Shanghai there

It's been a while but I'm back on the road so here we go: 

Keep in mind that I haven't figured out how to blog directly from China and that this post is being posted from the US. Any comments won't be read by me until I access it from here. Any recommendations on circumventing the firewall would be greatly appreciated.

It's the start of day three here. There were some shenanigans involved with my initial travel. I had trouble getting yuan out of an ATM so lacked the $1 fare I needed to get on a subway. After walking back and forth through the station 6 or 7 times trying to see or think of a solution, I saw a young woman getting change at a market and asked if she spoke english. She traded me 6 yuan for 2 bucks. A screaming deal for her if she's ever able to exchange it back. Once on the train, I followed the directions Louise (my Irish housemate) provided and arrived at her building with no problem. I did not, however, know what unit of the building she lived in. A few attempted conversations with people who spoke zero words of english got me to the front desk. A few phone calls later and I was in business. 

My first full day included a trip to CEIBS. I am getting the hang of the metro system but took forever to get there. I walked the wrong direction for a while, righted myself and walked forever again. It turns out the walk from the metro to CEIBS can take up to 45 minutes so I'll be spending an extra 15 cents on a bus from now on. 

My day yesterday was only slightly adventurous. I woke up early and laid around in bed for a few hours. It turns out that bed is the only warm place in China because apartments aren't heated and it's freaking cold outside. Early morning for me is also the best time to find people online, when the internet is fast enough for skype or gchat. 

I did end up venturing out to the grocery store. It's only a few blocks from the apartment building but everything I do here feels like a serious undertaking. Even when it's time to cross the street, one has to beware cars and motorcycles turning right. Apparently right on red means don't slow down on red, just turn right. There is no sense of waiting for one another here. I noticed pretty quickly when getting on and off of the subway. When the door opens, people mash into the doorway, both on and off at the same time. When getting into a line or on an escalator, if there is a way to go ahead of people, go for it. Very strange but at least I'm bigger. 

The grocery store was NO JOKE. I entered and immediately stepped onto an airport style people mover that brought me up one floor. The people mover and the floor it brought me to were absolutely packed. Literally hundreds of people at the grocery store. There seemed to be different music playing in different aisles, the products were weird as shit (including all sorts of chicken feet, little birds and other weird looking stuff). I walked around the whole floor so I could get a feel for what food is available. With oats, clementines and apples, I went to the pushy line at which products are weighed, priced and stickered for later checkout. The lady looked at the oats and shook her head. I assumed that meant that I didn't need a sticker but she and I shared zero common words so I went about my business. When I checked out, in the 47th checkout aisle. No shit, there were 50 checkout counters. The woman shook her head about the oats having no sticker so no oats for me. 

Outside, I stopped at a street food cart where a guy was making fried rice and nice looking noodle dishes. Again, I arrived with one person ahead of me but saw no fewer than seven dishes made before I got mine. Among those seven dishes were two fried rice orders for people who walked up well after I got there. Those orders helped to finish the rice so I got noodles instead. Only a dollar but it tasted kinda like fish paste. Slowly but surely I'm learning. Some language abilities will go a long way so I'll spend some time on that. 

Other than that outing, I went to the gym briefly. Really weak gym but it's convenient and will help me to get back in shape. Louise suggested that we would go to some art exhibit around 2:30 but then texted that she'd be back around 5 (she let me borrow a little nokia for now) and arrived about an hour ago, at 7ish. Maybe we'll venture out today.