We went to see Beijing Opera last Saturday. The Opera house was part of a hotel that catered to tourists and the like. I've been to a Beijing Opera house 7 years ago (it was to see an acrobatic show not opera.) and this theater was vastly different. It's part of a bigger hotel, and it's aimed at the tourist industry. On both sides of the main stage, there are two large screens that project the lyrics and their English translations to make it easier for the audience to understand. We sat in the second tier seats, where they served us tea and snacks. Even the tea pour-er is trained! They flip and twirl and throw their special teapots, creating a great spectacle as they pour your tea.

The opera was very fascinating. My mother used to sing another type of opera, so I've always been interested in Chinese opera, and Beijing opera being the most representative. We saw two shows, the first of which was from 天女散花 (it was rather slow, and I caught a few people falling asleep) but the second show was very exciting and quite a spectacle. The costumes were very magnificent and vibrant, and along with minimal props they set up the environment for the story to take place in. The actors were so precise and this art form not includes singing, but also martial arts, acrobatics, acting, and engaging with the audience. Even if you do not understand the Chinese, you will be touched by the beauty of something like this coming together.

On another note, classes are still very difficult, but becoming more manageable. There really isn't much time to do anything else during the week. Our teacher didn't give us homework on Wednesday because of Independence Day, and I used it to catch up on some sleep. Because we are so busy all the time, the days seem to go by really quickly. I can't believe the third week is already over, and we're heading to Inner Mongolia a week from now for my social study project.

The first week of classes have passed, and everything everyone's ever said about how difficult HBA is is absolutely true. Classes start at 8 every morning with a diction quiz, followed by two hours of lecture class, and two hours of drill class. You get a little break for lunch from 12-1:30, then its an hour of individual tutorial until 2:30 or 3:30 depending if you got the first shift or the second shift. Just when you feel like you have some time to yourself, there's extracurriculars, lectures, or language partners to see which goes to at least 5:30, where here you take another break for dinner. Then back to the grind on the homework, along with memorizing another 50 - 200 words for tomorrow's diction quiz. An essay is due every wednesday, and a two hour test is given every friday. On the weekends there are planned activities, such as climbing the great wall or going to beijing opera, which takes up the whole day. On Sunday, maybe you'll see your Chinese host family, which can go on for longer than you had planned for it to be. All in all, prepare to be busy, busy, busy.

When we arrived last weekend, a group of us Yalies took a trip to Hou Hai (后海). It's a rather large lake, that's a predominately a bar area. We had dinner there, and then rented a paddle boat to go on the lake. The scenery was spectacular, you can see the lighted outlines of Chinese flavored architecture gleaming red and green from the water, reflecting in the ripples. We enjoyed our last moments of being able to speak English.

This past weekend, we went to the Great Wall - Si Ma Tai - a part of the "wild" wall, not competely for tourists since it's twelve towers long and not in repair. But the scenery was beautiful and the climb to the top was very satisfying. We got back by 5, and I fell asleep by 9. It was a thoroughly exhausting week.

My cousin and his girlfriend took me out the other day to a newly developed commercial/tech district in Shanghai. The place was beautiful: wide clean plazas and boulevards, vibrant arrays of neon lights, and what else but gleaming skyscrapers. The landmark of the district is something they call "the egg." An elevated roadway passes through massive oval lighting structure that wraps around the road. During the day, the lights broadcast ads and news, but at night, it turns into a giant neon light show. Below the egg is a large central plaza, on the ground a huge map of the district is engraved. It is a really amazing design.

This is also the district where the Shanghai Walmart opened up a couple years back. I couldn't help taking a peek. They had special Walmart shuttle buses that brought customers to the store. I didn't get to go inside (we were off to dinner), but i took pictures from the outside, which i will post later.

I will be arriving in Beijing on Friday. Can't wait to meet everyone!

excerpted from an email to my boyfriend:

"I had a busy day today. Mom and i went to see my grandfather (on my dad's side).he's 83 this year, and is living by himself in the apartment the government hadgiven him years and years ago when they still provided housing for workers.He's slightly thinner than the last i saw him, but still strong and healthy. he moves and talks like a much younger man and is enjoying retirement. he's from shaoxin which is known for their wine - and like anyone from shaoxin, the wine is in his blood. in the corner of his sparse apartment, i counted at least 6 crates/boxes of alcohol. i'd like to stress again that he lives alone andhardly ever entertains.

afterwards, we wandered to qipu road which is now the new market for fake things and local wares. this woman kept following us asking if we wanted to buy fakebags and stuff, finally my mom was like, ok, we got nothing else to do. so we went to these back rooms and looked at all the fake stuff. they have fake everything. not just bags and wallets, but also perfume (which i still can' tget over) and ipods. it was the funniest thing. they have these fake nanos that's not even the right colors (for example, they had an orange one etc) and the screen was bigger than a regular one, and there are just little things about it that was off. i wanted to take a picture, but they would've confiscated my camera.

qipu road is really close to my grandparents (mom's side) old house where my aunt still lives. so we dropped by - you should see this place. it's so old shanghai, full of character and stories. obviously its very poor housing nowand will soon be demolished and replaced with high rises like the rest of thecity, but i still think its a bit of a pity to lose that sort of culture here. the houses back a market street where my grandpa used to own a small front as a butcher. but even there now people sell seafood and other live fishes, eels, crabs etc. they even sell frogs. it was kind of weird to see them (frogs are kind of gross... haha......).

after that, mom and i had dimsum at this really awesome restaurant whose interior is decorated with bamboo pagodas and bridges that connect tables. when we were leaving, we passed a table where this older woman was trying to write a text message on her cell. all normal right? and then she whips out a magnifying glass, like a legit magifying glass, because shec ouldn't see what she was writing..."

i have great pictures to go along with this that i will add later!

I went to get a haircut yesterday at this popular salon on Sichuan Lu. The moment I sat down in the chair, my stylist asked, "So, you study abroad right?" Apparently, they could tell I wasn't from China even before I tested my Chinese. We chatted a bit, and he kept telling me how Americans don't know how to cut hair, and that it's a much more advanced art in Asia. Advanced to be sure... just looking at the complicated hairstyles of the people in the salon is enough to make me feel like I was still living a couple decades in the past.

My laptop cannot get internet right now, so I will probably not get to upload any pictures till I get to Beijing.

I flew into Shanghai Pudong International Airport yesterday afternoon, and ever since then have just been relaxing and taking in the new surroundings. Shanghai is constantly changing, and so much of it is different from how I remembered it from my visit two years ago. I went to the new supermarket across the road from our new apartment with my aunt this morning. At first glance it looks like any other American supermarket - aisles and aisles of goods, shopping push carts, etc - but upon closer inspection, the differences are amusing. In the meat department, nothing is packaged. If you want some pork, you take a big slab of pork and a butcher will cut it up to what you need. Instead of buying rice by the bag, it is bought loose and weighed. The pastry shop sells buns and marinated garlic along with cake. But most of all, i liked the people movers the best. Instead of having stairs or escalators, there are moving ramps that carry shoppers to their destinations.

I'm off to make some dumplings with my grandmother. Until next time!

[edit] A note regarding overweight baggage. Flying into China from the States, your checked in baggage cannot exceed 50lbs. That's not too bad. But if you're going to be traveling domestic in China like I am (from Shanghai to Beijing and then back), domestic baggage only allows 20 kg or 44 lbs of luggage. I was cutting it pretty close (I think I brought 46 lbs), so I'll be leaving some things in Shanghai to make domestic weight limits. Just a warning for people planning on traveling in China... pack light!

The English Corner

When I went to Shanghai three years ago to visit family, my cousin took me to visit the night markets on Wujian Lu. As we strolled along the road crowded with vendors and colorful lights, I heard a familiar sound amid the chatter of shanghainese. Someone was speaking English. A little park, set a bit away from the main commotion, held a gathering of people, from business men to middle school girls, college students to curious onlookers, all Chinese, all speaking English.

I approached two college students leaning by a tree, "What's going on here?"

They replied, "It's an English Corner. We gather here to practice our English every week."

We started a lively conversation, and I couldn't help asking, "Why do you guys study English? Do you have hopes to go abroad someday?"

The college student laughed and said, "Well, some people study English to help them get a better job. Some people study it to appear more cultured and worldly. Others study it to show off to their friends. For me... well, I think we all live in a global community today. To understand each other, to communicate is really a part of our modern responsibility now. I don't think about leaving Shanghai - it has all the opportunities that I would ever look for. But still, I study English as part of my role in this new world community. "

I will be flying out to Shanghai by the end of the week to start my adventure studying for the next nine weeks at Harvard Beijing Academy. I think, like the anonymous college student that I met by chance that night, I too am fulfilling part of my role as a global citizen, to better understand our neighbors and my own role here as technology brings us closer together everyday. I will be speaking only Chinese for the next three months, so here will be my own little English Corner - not only a place that I allow myself to communicate in English, but perhaps as a place to explore that same commonality and understanding that I think everyone looks for at some point.