Our classes began Monday, May 10th. Since, the campus is so big and I have a terrible sense of direction, I had no idea where our class was. Luckily, 20 out of the 35 enrolled students are in the same class so we all walked there together. There isn't "Michigan time" here i.e. class doesn't start 10 minutes after the hour, it starts on time. Class was at 10 am so, we all got there at around 10 but all the front seats were packed. Students come early to class to be able to sit in the front seats. This awoke the competitive spirit in some of us and we decided that we would get to class 10 minutes early to sit in front. Since then, I have always been in a seat in the first or second row.
Picture from Andrew H's camera of our classroom. The classrooms have tons of windows and are very bright!
The other class I'm taking is a Chinese culture class and since the kids in the class are the kids from our program, we go back to our lazy ways and don't compete for front row seats.
The week was pretty good. I was getting used to the campus and getting to know the people in the program. They're all a lot of fun to hang out with. We found a BBQ place next to our dorms which is just a stall that BBQs all different types of meat and has tons of seats around it. Its always very crowded, so we assumed that's the "cool" hang out place. It's actually great. We all hang out there as a big group a couple of times a week. I've heard the food they serve is really good even though I haven't tried it yet. I saw someone eating BBQ squid. I'm not sure how long it's going to be until I'm ready to try that.
Other ways to have fun here is play basketball or tennis or ping pong. I've played Ping Pong with a couple of Chinese kids. It is a lot of fun! They are very very friendly and go out of the way to include you. They usually speak Mandarin amongst themselves but make an effort to speak English when we are around. They also lent me their Ping Pong paddles so that I could play with them. The stereotype of Chinese being amazing at Ping Pong made me nervous about playing with them at first, but I found out it was just a stereotype. Even then, I was overjoyed when I was able to win a few games against some of them.
The big activity of that week, organized by Czahreena, was a trip to a massage parlor! woot! I had never gotten a massage before and was very excited to finally get one. A big group of us got on the metro and got off at the area close to the massage place. The place was sending over a van that would drive us from the metro station to the massage place and could fit 6 at a time. We were told that the van would take 5 minutes to come back after dropping a group off. It was more like half an hour. The van had come and gone 2 times and there were still 11 of us left. So, we decided to fit in all 11 at once into this small van and go to the massage place. I don't know how we fit in 11 people and a driver but all I'm going to say is that I'm glad there was going to be a massage at the end of it.
We got the massage place and chose our massages. I was going to get a full body massage and a foot massage for one hour each and I didn't pay much at all. It was very very cheap compared to the USA. They made us take off our shoes and gave us some bamboo shoes instead. When we reached the massage rooms they asked us to put on some maroon robes with maroon shorts for the massage. We were also allowed to choose from a variety of teas and coffee for our drink. I chose ginger tea. The massage was soooooo relaxing. I fell asleep towards the end of my foot massage. After the massage, I felt so light and happy!
Waiting for the van. We, especially the Caucasian kids, were getting stares from passers by particularly an old lady who kept walking by us and staring. Most of the kids are used to this by now and it's no surprise to them if some local people randomly come and stand next to them and start taking pictures. Another reason we were getting stares is because all of us were sitting on the ground. People don't usually just sit down on the floor and wait.
12 of us in the van ( 10 in the picture+ 1 taking the picture+ 1 driver)
Entering the massage place
Our robes at the massage place
After the massage, we took cabs to a restaurant for dinner. They had lazy Susan tables. Perfect after the massage. At this dinner, I tried Jellyfish for the first time. I did not like it at all. It tasted like nothing and the texture was funny. Some others liked it though.
Jellyfish
Left: Tofu , Right: Some part of the Lotus
The Lotus thing was really good
Something that I quickly began to realize about the students on campus and especially our buddies was that they are all extremely friendly and always willing to help. They invite us to play ping pong with them, to eat dinner with them, they lend us their ping pong paddles and always recognize us and stop to talk if we walk by them on the street. This is very different from the USA. It 'll be a good thing if all of us, including me, can learn to be as friendly and welcoming as the SJTU kids are. It's a beautiful culture and I wish to learn and practice it as well :)
There's still a lot to update on. It seems like we have something planned for everyday. However, it's time for homework now. Will talk about weekend # 2 in the next blog which won't be for a few days since I'm going to Beijing tomorrow!
Nayana
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