I've finally finished the narration of my travel through China. Returning to Shanghai, I moved into a new place on the other side of the city. My two flatmates: cousins from the neighboring province of Zhejiang are some of the kindest and friendliest people I've met in Shanghai and my first night at my new home, we made pizza (something I haven't done since leaving the states, due to the lack of an oven) to celebrate.
My new neighborhood is far more local than the one I lived at through the Spring. Before, I lived almost across the street from the metro, as well as a Starbucks and McDonalds. Now I live across the street from a plethora of tiny noodle shops, fruit stands, hair salons and disreputable-looking "massage" parlors. I can walk to a few vegetable markets and attempt to barter with my caveman level of Chinese.
I started school again, at a new kindergarten near my new home. The teachers are welcoming and the children are, for the most part, well-behaved, but I now have a class of two year olds, children barely old enough to speak Chinese, much less English. That's fine, though. What's difficult about the class is that each student has roughly the attention span of a hummingbird and I soon found myself struggling to come up with new activities.
My new neighborhood is far more local than the one I lived at through the Spring. Before, I lived almost across the street from the metro, as well as a Starbucks and McDonalds. Now I live across the street from a plethora of tiny noodle shops, fruit stands, hair salons and disreputable-looking "massage" parlors. I can walk to a few vegetable markets and attempt to barter with my caveman level of Chinese.
I started school again, at a new kindergarten near my new home. The teachers are welcoming and the children are, for the most part, well-behaved, but I now have a class of two year olds, children barely old enough to speak Chinese, much less English. That's fine, though. What's difficult about the class is that each student has roughly the attention span of a hummingbird and I soon found myself struggling to come up with new activities.