my first typhoon!

You might have heard news reports about Shanghai being hit by what might have been "potentially the most destructive storm in a decade" - prompting the evacuation of 300,000 people from the city's outskirts, the shutdown of schools, and, (most alarmingly!), the relocation of the Women's World Cup to Hangzhou.

But thankfully, Typhoon Wypha didn't do much in my part of Shanghai except dump 7" of rain. (if you're curious, Wypha is a common girl's name in Thai) It was a bit inconvenient and wet, but it could have been much much worse. Thanks for everyone who checked up on me though. Just want to confirm that I'm alright, although I did get a few scary emails from my program director warning me to stock up on water and supplies.

I also have a pretty good typhoon story...

I have about a 20 minute walk home from school, in addition to a bus ride. Sadly, school was not cancelled for us, and I happened to get out of class on Tuesday during the height of the storm -- think ankle-deep streams on roadsides, sewers overflowing and water literally gushing out from the ground. Even though my shoes and socks and pants were entirely soaked, I managed to keep my upper torso pretty dry under my umbrella. What I completely forgot about was my backpack...

When I got back to the apartment, it was soaking. And swimming in a little puddle in the front pocket was my cell phone. Basically, Wypha broke my Razr. I was really upset at the time, but I figured that at least a typhoon is a pretty good way for a cell phone to break, if it's going to break eventually anyway. (almost as good as my cell-phone-breaking-in-China story from last summer... I left it in my pants pocket and managed to put it through the washer AND dryer without noticing)

The best part of this story is the ending though. After a few hours of not working, I let my phone dry a bit and it started making noises. A few hours later it began receiving calls, although the screen was still blank. And now, 2 days later, it suddenly started to function completely and perfectly!

No typhoon destruction, miraculous cell phone recovery - Praise God for the big things and the small.

of literacy and lakes

I started classes last week. Each week I have 8 hours of Chinese + 9 hours of area studies (in English). My Chinese class only has 5 people in it, so it's kind of fun but also kind of terrible because it is SO HARD. We are learning to read newspapers, which is pretty exciting. It's the most gratifying experience to be able to completely read something in Chinese - even if it's just a road sign or a menu item. Let's hear it for LITERACY! (and Penn)

Aside from doing excessive amounts of Chinese homework, I've gotten to explore Shanghai a bit. We went to the Oriental Pearl Tower the other weekend and got a nice view of the city. We also browsed through the Shanghai History Museum at the base of the tower. It was interesting because I feel like Chinese conceptions of museums are quite different from American ones. Instead of displaying artifacts or documents, they have a lot of dioramas, "artist renditions," and creepy wax figures. I also feel like "historical truth" is more debatable in China than it is elsewhere - and I guess wax people are easy to mold to fit official history? (haha - mold, literally)

 











View from the top of the tower. The sky in Shanghai is only blue above the clouds. Also my first "good" picture in Shanghai.


Also entertaining was an acrobatics show we attended in which the finale was called the "ball of death." (5 motorcyclists, 1 ball, lots of death potential -- see photo) By the end of the show I was exhausted from literally being on the edge of my seat the entire time.

 











In other news, went to Hangzhou for the weekend with my program. It's a city about 2 hours out of Shanghai that's famous for its beautiful lake and scenery - supposedly it's called "heaven on earth." But coming from a land of 10,000 lakes (shout out to Minnesooota), I was kind of underwhelmed with the famed West Lake. We did however get to see some cool Buddhist caves and stop by a longjing tea farm. Overall, it was a nice respite from the bustle and smog of Shanghai.

 











Hangzhou's Xi Hu, or West Lake.

 











A "perspective" picture gone terribly wrong, or alternately, Chinese water torture.
(my roommate Joey and me at the longjing tea farm)

中国-ed

Chinese lesson of the day

中国 (zhōng guó)
1. noun: the country of China
2. verb: to be cheated, to have something unexpectedly break, to be rudely treated, or to otherwise be screwed over
i.e. - After waiting for half an hour at the bank, she got zhong guo-ed when someone cut right to the front of the line.

Ok. So that second definition is made up. But it is appropriate and accurate, and something that will enter into the permanent vocabulary of anyone who has spent time in China.

The other day I bought a new blow dryer. I got greedy though and bought the cheapest one at the store - 30 kuai, compared to the higher-end ones that were 200 kuai. I was all excited to not have to sleep with wet hair that first night, but when I turned it on it started smelling like burning rubber. I realized the blow dryer was smoking. All of a sudden it popped and shut off. After a short career of about 15 seconds, this high quality piece of Chinese manufacture died.

This, friends, is what it means to be zhong guo-ed.

shanghai at last

My beautiful hardwood-floored, 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom, fully kitchened, track-lit apartment!


















Even the bathrooms are stylish.












The only strange thing about the apartment is the orange chairs, pictured here on the left. It looks as if someone couldn't figure out what to do with the back wall, so they just stole 3 chairs out of a movie theater and stuck them here.

So... yes. My standard of living in Shanghai has been quite cushy. I moved in this past Sunday and I was amazed at how nice the apartments were! I'd heard good things about them, but frankly they are a little ridiculous. Nicer than anything at Penn, by far. I had originally requested to live with one Chinese local and one American in some other apartments, but apparently they didn't have enough Chinese locals to go around. I can't complain about what I got instead though!

Aside from the rooming situation, my time in Shanghai has been interesting so far. Coming back to China has made me very nostalgic for last summer, which I spent at Peking University in Beijing. This program hasn't exactly been what I expected. It's not nearly as language-intensive as I would have liked, and the people here aren't as academically focused as I am used to at Penn or even last summer at PKU. My first few days were kind of a throwback to New Student Orientation of freshman year... meeting lots of people but forgetting most of their names, going out and being shepherded around in massive groups, seeing some people inevitably abusing their newfound freedoms. (China has no drinking age) Not exactly my cup of tea, but it's been getting better. One encouraging thing is that I met someone from Remnant West in NYC - I'm so grateful to have a fellow AMI-er out here in Shanghai! I'll also be starting classes on Monday, so I should be able to get settled in soon.

On a random note, I went to Carrefour today (the French equivalent of Walmart) and met a Scottish expat. Helped translate so that he could exchange a wok he had bought. One thing I love about China is that it really brings expats together. People who would never ordinarily meet or talk to each other just bond. We've all been cut while waiting in line, or nearly hit by a motorbike, or completely misunderstood because of language difficulties - so we can empathize with each other. It's a wonderful thing.

summer, abridged

Whenever people ask me what I did this summer, I never know quite how to respond. Usually I say, "Oh, I interned," or "I was in DC." But this just doesn't do the past 3 months justice.So in the interest of, er, justice, here are some of the more interesting highlights.

This summer, I...

worked: on writing grant proposals and editing publications at the Asia America Initiative

taught: English to foreign language teachers at the State Department's Foreign Service Institute

researched: the development of China's civil society and language learning strategies

schmoozed: with State Department officials and diplomats; also pulled some strings at the Passport Agency in order to get my passport renewed - in 2 hours, instead of 12 weeks!

spent: way too much money. DC is ridiculously expensive, especially when you're an unpaid intern

read: about the persecution and resilience of a leader of the Chinese Christian church in The Heavenly Man; later discovered that my boss at AAI has met him!

slept: pretty much every day on the Metro during my hour long commute to work; also slept during an event in which FTC Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a talk that was just as unengaging as every day of econ 2 lecture.

sweated: like a pig. DC is HOT.

lavished: Ginger with attention and dog treats. I miss her already.

saw: lots and lots of monuments and museums. Many times. My favorites: the Spy Museum and the Lincoln memorial at night

broke: not one, but TWO pairs of heels! By the end of my internship, I was tempted to stick it to the man and wear flip flops all the time instead of real shoes

learned: to SCUBA DIVE. 'nuf said.

pondered: what I will do after college. grad school? peace corps? DoS civil service? other work? my pondering was inconclusive.

Overall, it was an amazing summer of researching, sightseeing, and scuba diving, and I'm enormously thankful for the opportunities I was given. I remember frantically applying to think tanks in March - nervous that I wouldn't have anything to do this summer. But things came together in a way that I couldn't have planned better myself. I was generously provided with free, and incredibly nice, housing with my sister and her husband (and of course, their dog). I had the chance to work both in a small nongovernmental organization and within the government bureaucracy. It was humbling to be able to meet and work with such accomplished, influential, and truly passionate people.

I close today with an anecdote from Henrietta Fore, Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and Under Secretary of State for Management. As as a former Consular Officer, she was there in 1991 when the U.S. reopened the American Embassy in Lithuania. (After being shut out by the Iron Curtain for more than 50 years, the U.S. was only able to return after the fall of the Soviet Union.) She told the story of how, at the reopening ceremony, even grown Lithuanian men had tears in their eyes because they were so moved and overjoyed that the Americans had finally returned.

Melodramatic? Maybe. But I am, nonetheless, touched by stories like these. The Bush administration may be mired in scandal, our policies toward the Middle East misguided, our human rights record tarnished by Abu Gharib, and our civil liberties curtailed by the Patriot Act. Even so, I believe in the ideals America has come to stand for, and in the ability of the American political system to live up to these ideals by continually correcting itself of its failures and shortcomings.

My summer in DC has provided much food for thought. I can just say that Shanghai has some big shoes to fill.

7 days

Will be leaving for Shanghai in exactly 7 days. In the meantime, I've been busy stocking up on American-made toothpaste, breathing clean Minnesotan air, practicing putonghua, and enjoying my last days of fixed-price shopping.

Stay tuned for more...