Safe Arrival!

The plane arrived almost an hour earlier than expected; we got in around 4:00am. Once we walked off the plane, we can feel the hot humid weather right away. I didn’t sleep very well on the plane ride since there was not a lot of space to move around, in fact, I am still pretty sore from sitting in an awkward position. The hotel that I am staying at is almost an hour away from the airport; I got there shortly before 6:00am and sat in the lobby until there was someone available to talk to. I got checked-in pretty quickly and by 7:00am I was already in the hotel room. The hotel room was smaller than expected, but it’s all paid for, so I shouldn’t really be complaining.

I am pretty nervous about meeting my roommate and after being in Shanghai for a few hours, I realized how terrible my Mandarin is because English and Cantonese always comes first to mind and I blank out quite often when I am not sure how to express myself properly. I am hoping this next month will allow me to immerse in the language and when I come back, I will be properly trained as to how to teach Chinese in a high school setting.

Time to go grab something to eat… I’m starving!

Guess what I ate as my first meal here in Shanghai? McDonald’s!! I finally ordered it right this time and got what I wanted! Hot wings combo.. only for 20RMB! I also had the opportunity to meet my roommate shortly after I got back from lunch. She’s almost 12 years older than me, Chinese person who currently lives in Italy! I haven’t had the opportunity to meet much people from our class yet, but I am sure we will all get along quite easily.

When I checked in with the teaching assistant, she had asked me if I could prepare a short speech for the opening ceremony tomorrow about what brought me here. Without hesitation, I said yes (yes, it’s a teacher thing.. when opportunities come, say yes) even though I was not confident at all in speaking in front of people from all over the world.

For dinner, I went on an adventure by myself (because my roommate went to meet a friend) to a place nearby and had the Shanghai famous xiaolong bao. SO GOOD, including a cold soy drink, for 10.50RMB. I am quite enjoying how cheap food is in China…. But I also noticed a decrease in my appetite because of the hot weather.

Well, I only took a half hour nap in the afternoon, so hopefully my jetlag can easily adjust.