SHANGHAI BABY!

Well, after getting off of the phone with a good friend of mine who shall remain nameless, (Erica Swanson), I was reminded that I have been in Shanghai nearly a week and I have not updated my blog! Leaving some to wonder, "did Cailin ever make it to Shanghai? Or did her plane go down?" The answer is,of course, a resounding yes! I am in fact in Shanghai! However, Shanghai is an entirely different beast than Hong Kong, and it has taken a little while for this reality to really sink in for me.

 

Let's start with a few numbers:

I am from Cottage Grove, MN: population: 33,081 (2007 census Wikipedia)

I have lived in St. Paul, MN (the capital of my fair homestate): population: 287,151 (2000 census Wikipedia)

I have also lived in Minneapolis (the largest city in Minnesota): population: 386,691 (2009 census Wikipedia)

The combined total population in the Twin Cities area is the 16th largest in the nation: population: 3.5 million (Wikipedia)

I have also visited New York, NY (the largest metropolis in the US): population: 8.4 million (New York City proper) 19.1 million (New York City Metropolitan area

I just came from Hong Kong: population ~ 7.06 million

Shanghai: population: 19,213,200

 

I knew this before going to China, but knowing it and experiencing it are two very different things. This is city is, to use a gross understatement: huge. It really doesn't ever seem to stop. You know how when you are coming sown from up North in Minnesota and you see the Minneapolis skyline? It takes up the majority of the view, Shanghai, on the other hand, is nothing but city, it is a wash of light and skyscrapers everywhere. It just never seems to stop.

 

My first problem when coming to Shanghai was, how do you cross the street? Because Shanghai is, like a friend here described it, a river, it never stops it just keeps flowing. This is true of pedestrians, cars, and motor-bikes and bicycles. Red lights, cross-walks, and even sidewalks are all simply suggestions, and you simply have to go with the flow of whatever's going on and be prepared for the changing currant to take you someplace different, otherwise you'll be crushed. So it has simply taken a few days to get acclimated to this new vibrant atmosphere.

 

I'll have pictures to put up soon enough as well, but the other information I've found out since arriving is: 

I'll be working at the EF megacenter in downtown Shanghai

I'm looking for an apartment this week     

Right now I'm staying in the French Concession in Shanghai at the Rayfont Hotel

And I finally got up the courage to go rollerblading on one of the suburban streets, it was a thrill with all of the traffic!

 

Love and miss all of you guys!

My Last Days in Hong Kong

I have loved the city of Hong Kong, but it's getting to be time to go to Shanghai. In my last few days in Hong Kong I've had a lot of really great opportunities to see amazing archetecture, eat some great food, and walk, and walk, and walk! I have walked over much of Kowloon and Hong Kong island by now. Hong Kong was pretty easy to get around because the signs were written in Chinese and English. Most people also spoke enough English to assist you and answer any questions you had. I'm really going to miss Hong Kong.

Transferring to Kowloon

Well my beautiful blog followers, I'm leaving my posh, but pricey hotel by the airport and going into Kowloon, to hopefully find more reasonable lodging, Kowloon is also very close to the Chinese Consulate where I can hopefully drop off my visa application and pick up my visa. My enormous checked bags were placed under lock and key at the Hong Kong airport, (they are simply too heavy for me to carry), and I have found that Dragon Airlines flew me one-way from Shanghai to Hong Kong, so I'll hopefully be headed back to Hong Kong International soon to continue my journey to Shanghai!

Hong Kong Transfer

This will be very quick, as I have a great many things to take care of. So it turns out that I was incorrect about having my visa, I have a visa application. This needed to have been turned in (in America) at a Chinese Embassy with my passport in order to obtain a Chinese Visa, and I thought this application was the Chinese Visa. This mistake is what landed me on a plane (shortly after arriving at PVG, Shanghai) to Hong Kong. I have to find a Chinese Embassy here in Hong Kong and continue plugging away at getting back to Shanghai. Hong Kong (at least where I am at the airport hotel) is beautiful, and I am still excited to begin this adventure, everyone has been very kind! Keep reading to find out what happens, because this part of the book hasn't been written yet!

1 Week to China

For the most part this last week has been full of the same things as many weeks: I took care of my grandpa, I hung out with some friends, and I kept chipping away at the giant 'to do' list that I would like to take care of before I leave. However, I didn't really have any huge emotional breakdowns, there has been a considerable lack of chaos, and things just seem to be happening the way they are suppose to. This is entirely comforting to me, and dissuades me from returning to the freak out status! Also, this last Wednesday was my birthday, and I celebrated (as per usual) with family, friends, and food!

Sunday, August 22

I went to Baja Sol with my friend Betsy, where I indulged in the carnitas sandwich, not that I could eat all of it, I took half of it home... and promptly ate the other half later in the night! This was pulled pork, doused with melted cheese and chipotle barbeque sauce! The cilantro cole slaw was one the side.

Tuesday, August 24

My friend, Brant (alias: Brantnare) took me out to Norton's in downtown Red Wing (Norton's is owned by the bassist of Husker Du, Greg Norton) and that was also fabulous! We started out with Tappas: Chorizo sausage, cheese (with some sort of jam on it), salted nuts, and dipping oil.

And then we moved on to Brant's favorite, the sammy (or s'miches). I had the Vietnamese sandwich with patte, ham, cilantro, red onion, carrots, and asian dipping sauce.

And this is the empty dish of creme burle that Brant and I ate before I remembered to take a picture of it.

11 Days to China

Because I'll be leaving for China in precisely 11 days, I've been going on a sort of goodbye tour of Minnesotan places, friends, and food. So I have spent my days over the last week or so rollerblading beautific places in Minnesota, hanging out with great and amazing friends, and getting a taste of different foods I'll miss when I'm abroad in Shanghai, as well as getting a taste of what I'll find in Shanghai! To the left is the buffet we (Fizza, Melinda, Aimee, Dehlia, Naomi, and me) procured at the Hmong Market. Along with amazing clothes, fresh produce, and various knick-knacks was really good authentic Asian cuisine! It was great, I was initially sort of scared of the whole fried fish, but it tasted awesome!

Another thing I expect will be rare in Shanghai would be copious amounts of red meat, no, I know it's not the best for you, but I really do love steak!










And lastly, one of the things I'll truly miss in Asia is... Asian food? Well not exactly, Americanized Chinese food is not authentic, but let's face it, it's pretty darn awesome!

18 Days to China

So, with18 days remaining until I leave for China the question remains; what do I want to do? Answer: hang out with friends, AND eat the food that I love here and will likely be harder to find in another country. Today I answered these two quandaries by hanging out and walking down by the river with Kat and eating at Cecil's.

The walk down by the river was perfect, it was a beautiful sunny day in the seventies (which has been a very welcome cool-down lately) and I took a ton of pictures (many of which are posted on Facebook in the album titled, Minnesota!); but more than anything I think I'm going to really miss the smells around Minnesota. Down by the Mississippi it smells like warm, moist, vegetation; in the suburbs you can always smell freshly mowed grass; and in the city it smells like... well the city! People, food, and asphalt! Then fall will come with the cool, crisp sent of sugar and dying leaves.

I should mention at this juncture that it is my intention to take as many pictures as possible of the food that I'm eating in China and posting it on this blog so that you can see what I'm eating, whatever that may be. So in keeping with this thought that I would also add the pics of my favorite foods (Minnesota cusine) I'll be indulging in before I take off. This sandwich is a representative of the sandwich I actually ate (Chicago style pastrami know as, the "Some Like it Hot!" This is technically the Rueben I brought back for my mom, but you get the idea.

20 Days to China

Freaking out is, at least for me, a big part of the process of leavign the country; this has been happening over the course of the last few weeks and since I purchased my ticket, the excitement, fear, and trepidation has become of amalgamated goo of emotive perspicacity (a word I learned from The Simpsons), resulting in me freaking out.

The other odd thing I'd like to note is the fact that in getting ready to leave I feel an overwhelming sense of on one hand feeling a need to connect with others, and a disire to disconnect.

Other than that, I have decided to stick with my bag, I like my bag, I think it'd be a really big pain to get a larger size and for now I'm going to stick with my original choice in a computer bag, though that means the laptop fits snuggly and doesn't move and is, thus, subject to minute amounts of dust and perhaps (gasp) percipation. I have decided (for now at least, I really might change my mind tomorrow) that I will simply stick with this bag, and should it seem particularly windy (with dust) or wet to an ungodly degree I'll simply wrap a plastic bag around the laptop itself (the sleeve John gave me). But really, I'd rather focus on the time and people whom I have in the beautiful state of Minnesota, becaus, god it's a beautiful day!

21 Days to China

So, having spent the last week freaking out about my visa and my plane ticket I figured that once I got these two things taken care of the freaking out would stop; it has, however, dispersed and rather than being a centralized specified feeling it's now an uncentralized feeling of discomfort. This is change, exciting, but no one said it would be comfortable.

In some ways, I wonder how this commitment to go to China is akin to getting married; I've already spent way too much money, told way too many people, and done my best to see myself in Shanghai, and yet I do feel that cold feet sort of feeling. This is strange to me, not only because it's uncomfortable, but because I felt so sure about this adventure so recently as a single month ago, one month ago when it was not yet so real as it is today.

The parts of me that are excited realize just how many amazing things I'll see, that I'll be completely immersed in something other than Minnesotan culture, that this is an opportunity to really grow as a person in a way that I would be unable to accomplish in the comfort and stability of my home. Doubt then sets in periodically throughout the day. Doubts about leaving people behind, leaving comfort and familiarity... but then there's also the adventure.

I guess my feeling is cold feet or not, I have the opportunity to do something today that I could not have conceived of last year. I accept that it will be difficult, and often times lonely, because these are things that I know (though I don't like to deal with them) they are in fact possible. More than any thing else though, I remember what I've learned from commedy writers, that it's difficult but imparative to 'remember what was funny and had people rolling on the floor laughing the first time you read something, because after the 20th time hearing it people are not going to laugh and it's up to you to remember those beginning laughs and work on the things that NEVER worked, DO not waste you time re-tooling something that already worked and doesn't seem to anymore, because you can get that back.' I've learned to trust that feeling deep down inside that once said 'this is a good idea'; so even though I don't necessarily feel that right here in this particular moment, I know that if I trust that feeling from back when I was sane everything will be okay. FORWARD HO!

23 Days to China

This, by the way, is the all-purpose computer messenger bag I went with so that I can haul my computer around in China and talk to you guys back home!

In order to leave the country I still need the two most important things I could possibly need: my visa to live and work in China, and my plane ticket. The quandry here is this, EF (the company I will be working for) does not want me to waste my money on a plane ticket if there does happen to be some issue with my visa, but if I wait too long to buy a ticket and am forced to buy my ticket, say, the week I leave I will personally be wasting lots of money. To attempt to relieve myself of this craziness I met with a friend today, did some rollerblading, get some awesome bubble tea, and engaged in lots of girl talk in order to focus on the positive things in my life; I also took care of my cavity - but I did NOT necessarily consider that a positive experience; and in any case I think I've come to the most cost effective solution... I will have to ask the company about the cancelation and/or date change fees, and buy a ticket hoping that I truly will leave September 3rd, rather than October 3rd, and if not I'll have to insurance of being able to change my departure date, but if things work out the way I hope I will not have to buy a ticket, say, the day before I leave.

24 Days to China

Hello! Welcome to my blog about China!

In 24 days I will be embarking upon the journey of a lifetime; on September 3rd, 2010 I will be traveling to Shanghai, China where I will live for a year teaching English as a Second Language. It is really exciting, but also really nerve wracking!

This is my checklist of things I have: finished the TEFL certificate, a job, a digital camera, my re-newed passport, Lonely Planet guide to China, a few ideas of fun things to do in China, new sandels, new hiking boots, a new laptop, laptop carrying bag, external hard drive, and all of the cords for these various devices.

The far more terrifying checklist is that which still needs to be completed: a plane ticket, my visa. (I know, these are two very scary things to not have. The company that I will be teachingwith is getting my visa for me and I'm not technically supposed to buy my ticket until they've secured my visa).

When I get to China I will have a couple of weeks to find an apartment and get settled, but after that who knows what will happen?! So if you're interested, please feel free to follow along on this exciting adventure with: Cailininchina.blogspot.org! Thanks for all of your love and support!