Week in Review

It was once again, a really busy week. I am really enjoying my internship. The work itself has taught me a lot of hard skills that I really think I can use after I graduate. The pronunciation lessons have been awesome and I have learned way more Chinese than I expected to. And Lunch with my co-workers continues to be a highlight. We share some of the funniest stories, laugh almost the entire lunch hour—usually at my expense as I taste something new and unusual—and talk about growing up in the US and China. They’ve taken really good care of me. Yu Cui has brought me breakfast on several occasions, and even bought my lunch a few times. Vivi notices the strap on my bag was breaking, so she brought in a sewing kit and fixed it up to look brand new. I’m really going to miss them when I go home.

As I was walking home for work today, I realized, this is starting to feel like home. I really enjoy the hustle and the bustle on the streets. There’s something very relaxing about walking to and from work in a crowd. Everyone is in the same situation of trying to get from here to there, and usually everyone is really friendly. Traffic still doesn’t make sense to me, but it doesn’t seem as chaotic as it once did—it’s kind of entertaining actually. I’ve even found a number of dishes I like to eat. Beyond chocolate—which isn’t so great here—there really aren’t many foods I miss from the US (actually I would love some strawberries too…chocolate and strawberries would be perfect.)

And walking into the lobby only confirmed for me that I am starting to turn the corner. There was a large group of American high schoolers checking in at the front desk. They were so loud and really quite rude. They acted as if they owned the place, spreading out and rambunctiously blocking the flow of traffic. Their body language just looked kind of sloppy. I even have to admit—I know this will sound a bit weird but—their white faces looked so out of place.

I’m really starting to adapt, I thought.

This weekend, the recruiter I worked with was organizing a trip for all of the interns in Shanghai to go to Qiandao Hu (English: “Thousand Island Lake”.) The lake is a manmade feature. In 1959, the government flooded the Wu Shi valley, leaving the city of Shi Cheng under about 40 meters (~120 feet) of water. The peaks of the valley became “islands” each with different exotic plants and old temples. It’s become a tourist staple for both locals and internationals alike.

Packing my bag, I met the other interns in the lobby. There were 10 of us going—both Swiss Charlotte and British Charlotte, Ericka and Akeena, Elana from Bulgaria, Jin Yi from Signapore, Peiyang from Shanghai, Alex a new intern from Texas, Emma who was one of Sabrina’s colleagues at the recruiting office, and me.  

Supposedly our fee for the trip included a private bus. All of us were (foolishly) expecting that that meant a bus would pick us up and that we would be the only group on it. The vehicle that pulled up in front of the hotel resembled more of a…15 passenger van, with an aisle down the middle. Suffice to say the five hour bus ride was a little bit cramped.

I sat towards the front with a row to myself. British Charlotte sat in front of me and we chatted for the first hour or two of the drive.

“When is your internship over?” she asked in her very thick northern UK accent.

“July 11^th,” I said. “Yours?”

“July 7^th,” she said.

“That’s next week!” I said.

“Yes,” she said. “I’m off to Thailand and Laos for a month or so. I tried to go to Vietnam but I don’t have the right visa. I don’t really have the right vaccinations to go to Thailand but hopefully I will be okay.”

“Thailand will be amazing!” I said. “I would love to go to Thailand but there are a lot of advisories out for American’s not to go.”

“Really?” she said. “Because of what’s going on in Bangkok?”

“I think so,” I said.

“That’s silly,” she said.

“But I am go to Japan next week,” I said.

“Oh that’s exciting,” she said. “You’re going alone?”

“Sort of,” I said. “I have a professor who is from there and I’m going to go stay with her for a couple of days and renew my visa so that I can travel around China when my internship ends. But I actually really like traveling alone.”

“I love traveling alone,” she said. “I like meeting strangers and they always turn out to be the most fascinating people. And it’s nice being on your own schedule so you can do as much or as little as you want.”

I have to admit, I loved listening to her accent. The way she said “schedule” was just so…awesome!

We shared a bag of Lay’s Potato Chips and talked about all of the odd flavors Lay’s makes to customize their brands around the world. I still think the most bizarre American taste is “Chicken and Waffles” although that pales in comparison to the “Pepsi” flavor you can find in Shanghai. Charlotte said the best flavor in the UK is “Baked Beans on Toast” which she said is also the best UK breakfast.

As the bus drove on into the night and everyone seemed to be dozing, she asked me, “If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?”

I thought about it for a second. “I want to go to Brazil,” I said. “I want to see Rio and the Redeemer Statue, and I think hiking in the Amazon would be cool.”

“I really want to go to Brazil!” she said. “See all the beaches and the clubs.”

“I do want to go back to Europe. I feel like everyday I’m away I want to go back to Europe more and more.”

“I tell my dad I’m really glad we live in Europe,” she said. “I can fly to Barcelona for the weekend for less than it costs to drive to London. It’s just so nice and relaxing; everyone loves going to Europe.”

“It’s funny,” I said. “I feel like American’s romanticize life in Europe, Asians seem to romanticize life in America…”

“And Europeans romanticize life in Southeast Asia,” she said. “Everyone wants to go to Thailand, and Malaysia.”

“If we just shifted the Northern Hemisphere one continent East, everyone would be happy,” I said.

She laughed. “Where in Europe do you want to go?”

“Someday when I’m married I want to go back to all the places I’ve been,” I said, but right now I really want to go to Croatia to see Dubrovnik, and I’d like to go to Turkey—even though it’s not completely Europe.”

“Oh it basically is,” she said.

“Beyond that,” I said. “I really want to go to Israel.”

“Oh me too!” she said. “I’m Christian so I really want to go.”

“Me too,” I said.

We kept going listing off various sites on all the continents—including Antarctica, which does have a three week Study Abroad program for Environmental Science credit. The course is run by a school in Argentina and set to the tune of $18,000 plus airfare.

The “bus” stopped at a McDonalds for dinner and we all piled out to get food. We took it to go and got back on the bus. Peiyang bought some of the infamous stinky tofu. If you have not heard of this concoction before, it is basically tofu that is seasoned very specially and considered a delicacy in China. The best way to describe the smell is that of very pungent diarrhea. It seriously induces the worst gag-reflux. Fortunately, Peiyang ate his dinner outside the bus before we continued on to the islands.

I slept the rest of the drive, which was another three hours. When we arrived it was after midnight. Emma got us all checked into the hotel and pair up in rooms. I was paired with Alex, but all of us were in six rooms next to each other on the 4^th floor.

The rooms themselves were very odd. They looked like standard hotel rooms with two twin sized beds. The bath room however, didn’t really have walls. There was a sink, toilet, and shower along one wall of the room, and a frosted glass panel obstructed the view in. If you were using the toilet or shower, you could very clearly see out into the room—although if you were in the room all you really say was a silhouette on the other side of the glass.

I was exhausted, as was pretty much everyone else. Alex went with a few people to buy some beers, but by the time they got back, I was already asleep.