Back from Shanghai, to an early Winter

We made it back from Shanghai safe and sound. It was quite the trip and I'm a little sad to be back. Part of me was very ready to get back to a slower lifestyle with less people, but of course as soon as I'm back, I miss Shanghai. Apparently the grass is always greener, even in China. Anyways, the adventure started with the bus ride down. We got to the station in order to catch a 7:20a bus to Shanghai. We get everything situated and start driving, only we are doing laps around the main road in Siyang. All of a sudden the bus stops and they tell everyone to get off and move us to a different bus. The second bus was cold, dirty, and had people smoking in it. We continues to troll for passengers until the bus was full and we were finally on our way. The ride was horrible from using bus stop bathrooms with no doors, to having someone dig their knees into the back of my seat (even though it wasn't reclined AT ALL) to the man in the back that sounded like he was hacking up a lung for the last 2 hours of the ride. BUT we finally arrived, navigated the metro, and made it to our hostel! The first night we decided to take it easy and stuck around the hostel for some beers. We ended up meeting two guys from Boston and stayed up till like 4am playing P&A and just sharing China stories. They were heading back to the States the following day, and we were a bit jealous. But it was great to meet people and speak English again.

The following day we met up with Christine and went to the SUPER BRAND MALL. All Western stores and a Starbucks. We were in heaven. It's been so long since I've had REAL coffee. We have a French press here which is good, but nowhere near the real thing. Anyways, we went shopping all day (H&M was great!), ate lunch at Subway, saw the Pearl TV Tower (which is hideous by the way) and then made plans to meet up with one of Laura's friends from home who is now living/working in Shanghai. We got to his place, lugging a suitcase that he is so awesomely taking back to America for us so we don't have to deal with it when we travel after the term, and he showed us around the area. He lives in a super Westernized part of town complete with a Costa Coffee and a Starbucks within spitting distance of his apartment complex's guard station. We went to an American-style sports bar for late dinner and drinks and just had a great time hanging around Western people. Friday was a bit of a bust because it was raining all day. We were going to walk around the park and visit temples, but opted for Pearl City bargain hunting instead. It was awesome. I got a lot of cool stuff for myself as well as gifts for the family. I'm super excited about all of it, but can't be more specific because I like to think that people actually read my blog, and I don't want to give anything away. Friday night consisted of more drinking and meeting people as did Saturday, to the point where we had to change our bus tickets because we weren't ready to travel so early Sunday morning. Saturday during the day though, it was nice out and we decided to play actual tourists and visited People's Park, and the Shanghai Museum of Art.

All in all it was a great trip, but when we got back to Siyang, winter had decided to stop in early. It was lightly snowing as we were picked up from the station, and it continued to fall all night. These past few days have been freezing. In central and southern China, they do not believe in central heating because it doesn't get "that cold". Coming from Wisconsin, I believe them. Temperatures around 30F aren't that bad, except when the inside of your apartment and school is also that temp. The stone buildings don't hold much heat in winter and we have no heating units outside of our bedrooms, or offices at school. It's really hard to adjust to. Not to mention the solar powered hot water we have, which means that in the morning when I wash my face, the water is pretty much ice cold. It's hard to get warm after that. We resorted to buying a large thermos which we keep in the bathroom filled with hot water so we can wash our faces. We've also booked down jackets, which annoyingly aren't done yet, and we hope to buy a small space heater so we can at least stand to be in our kitchen/living room for more than 2 minutes. I sleep in more clothes than I ever thought possible and I'm pretty sure the next time I take an honest to goodness shower (not just using a tub and washcloth or washing my hair in the faucet) will be when I travel somewhere and stay in a hostel/hotel.

I hate to whine so much, but it's really not fun to be cold all the time. I've already managed to catch a cold, and I fear that it won't really go away until I come home. Talk about learning not to take things for granted. China sure is toughening me up, and forcing me to appreciate many, many things in my life.