Ok I guess this update is long overdue. But I have been busy! Which is a good thing I guess? Today I'm gonna talk to you about my first culture shock in China. Last Friday we went out for some trainee's farewell party. We first went to this expats bar called I <3 Shanghai. Then at 1:30 we switched to Bonbon, which is a club where you pay 120kuai (1$=7kuai, do the math) and you get open bar all night. I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY PEOPLE SLEEPING IN A BAR!!!!!!! It was only 1:30 and there were so many overdrunk people laying everywhere. The place has two dance floors and the rest is couches everywhere. Apparently it's normal: dance, dance, sleep, dance. Anyway seeing all those people laying everywhere made me not want to get too drunk! ;) I met AIESECers from SJTU for the first time. One of them passed out from like 2 until we left (around 5) See the pictures.
Then Saturday I got up at 9 because Sophie (my buddy) took me to her family to have lunch. I didn't talk much to them because of language issues, but they were really happy that I liked the food and ate a lot of it hehe. Then we went to this temple thing which is actually a huge tourist place. I wanted to die. Too many people, and I hate being stopped every two seconds by someone trying to sell me a watch.
After, there was a welcome party for an intern from the Netherlands/UK called Daan. We went to his place and cooked (well I didn't) some food. There were many AIESECers from everywhere. AIESEC is a small world. Then we decided to go out again, but we were with this guy who was waiting on his 20 friends and they couldn't make up their mind about where they wanted to go, so we stood on the sidewalk for 2 hours while they were talking on the phone and texting. This is why I think cell phones are stupid; without cell phones, we would have just gone somewhere, who cares what the others are doing. But I now have a phone because some AIESEC member loaned me their old one. I'm so slow at texting. Anyway, after that we went to KTV! until 6 AM. The hardest thing about KTV is not laughing while you're trying to sing and the video is totally hilarious. We played "Meet the flintstones" and the video was almost like a weird porn movie. I went to bed at 7:30. ;x Not much sleep this weekend.
Sunday night there was a LC meeting. It was cool to see all those motivated people. It's elections time for four VP positions. A lot of potential here. My second culture shock was the "punishment". It consisted of bursting a balloon while pressing it between two bodies ie hugging with a balloon between. And they were shy doing it! I need to create a hugging culture here. Then we went for BBQ. Mmmm BBQ. And beer is so cheap! It's a big bottle (size of 2 beers) for like 3 kuai!
I also went on a marketing call to a English teaching school. China has such huge needs for English teachers. Canada needs to start raising those SNs!
I got a bike! It's so useful. Only 110kuai! So I go around everywhere with my bike. :) The other "exciting" thing I did was register to the police station hahaha. Big brother is watching me. I can't even read my blog, only post on it, cause blogspot.com is blocked in China.
The other day I had chicken feet for the first time. It looks not so tasty at first, but it's good. It's just hard to eat because I'm not used to it and I don't know where the bones are. I love how Chinese people eat every part of the animal. So little waste! I think in Canada we eat way too much meat and not enough on each animal.
Have you ever noticed how standards of beauty are cultural? Here girls walk with an umbrella and wear long sleeves and even buy whitening lotion to have whiter skin. And we use tan lotion. Also when I see a couple on the street, I often think the girl is very pretty and the guy is really ugly. Maybe she's ugly by their standards? Or he's goodlooking? Judging by the pictures above the hairsalon, I wouldn't like their standard goodlooking Chinese guy. I should take a picture of it and show it to you.
It's getting better and better on the social integration side. AIESECers are really nice and we've even had political/philosophical conversations. Funny moment: I asked them if they had mandatory philosophy courses. They told me all university students have to take a course on marxism. We all laughed. ;) I really like talking with AIESECers and I think that's where I have the most impact. Last night I was on MSN talking with Tess from Western and Celli from México and they were both thanking me for my support. But I didn't have to do anything! It's cool to feel useful/appreciated.
On Friday I went to the consulate to take my exam (I'm taking Internet courses). It didn't go too well. Studying is not my priority right now hehe. I think I'll celebrate St-Jean-Baptiste and Canada Day here with the events organized by the consulate. I might even go to the Independence Day one.
That's all for today. I hope this post looks nice because I can't see it!
