Journal Excerpt: Sara Bellin

No words can express how much we miss everyone and everything back in America. From our parents to the Peddie community, from toilet paper to hand soap in the bathrooms, from crosswalks to sane and deservedly licensed drivers, even from hot dogs to PFS (Peddie Food Service), we miss every single thing that the United States has to offer. Well, maybe that last statement is a little too specific to me; don't get me wrong, Shanghai is almost definitly the coolest city I have ever been to, but coming to China has been a bigger culture shock than I could ever dream of!
     First, and foremost, are the bathrooms. Before coming to China, I knew that all of the public restrooms would be holes in the toilet, so that didn't really come as a surprise. However, I was more shocked by the seeming lack of toilet paper and hand soap throughout all of Shanghai. I have yet to go to a public bathroom where there are soap and toilet paper, and only some of the restaurants we've been to even have it. Maybe, if I try, I could possibly understand the toilet paper, but I just don't get why there is no hand soap, especially since the Chinese are so particular with germs in eating and in their households. Wouldn't they want to cleanse themselves of the nasty toxins they are probably getting on their hands? Thank god for Purell!
     Mostly everyone has probably been in a situation on the road where someone is speeding and weaving in and out of lanes or doing something else ridiculous and dangerous, and you think to yourself, "that guy is just crazy". Now, having been to China, I would say you don't really know what you are talking about. I don't know the specifics, but there must not be any driving laws here, because people in China, or at least Shanghai, drive like absolute mad men. There are no such things as waiting until the traffic has cleared to make a turn; it's more like a free for all. The same goes for switching lanes. If you want to be in a certain lane, you don't wait for the traffic in that lane to clear; you just turn into it, and if someone happens to be there, you honk until they move. The scariest and the funniest is when our little bus tries to rival the bigger buses, and we are just sitting in the backseat, thinking, alright man up front, what are you doing? But it's totally and completely ok, because although their driving style is different from ours, they all seem to do it, and therefore, everyone on the roads knows how to navigate them. There has not been an incident yet where I have felt unsafe inside of a car.
     And then there is the food. The food here is, for the most part, really really good. Nevertheless, the fundamental tastes of Chinese food is just completely different from Ameircan tastes. Mostly everything is really sweet, and the meat, instead of being served plain, is almost always served in a sauce which, for lack of a better word, is sticky and goey. Also, we see a lot of cabbage as the main vegetable, a food not so commonly seen in American cooking. Also, Shanghai has a LOT of fish, which isn't bad, but just not the same as having a steak with mashed potatoes. Maybe the biggest difference, though, is the way the Chinese spit things out onto their plate. Shellfish comes with the shell still on, fish are never deboned, and I even saw our tour guide, shi laoshi, spitting out the peel of his pear one day at lunch.
     Lastly, and maybe most obviously, is the extreme juxtaposition here between old housing and new housing. Never before have I seen glass skyscrapers with flashing neon lights next to two storied, very old, and clearly poor housing. One minute I am looking into this architectural phenom of a building, with its modern stairs, glossy floors, and technologically advanced applications, and the next I am looking up to see clothes hanging from poles outsides the windows of these rundown houses. While this immediate difference does exist in many US cities, I have never seen it to such an extreme.
     Although, from what I have just said, I do not sound too enthused with these staples of Chinese life, I could not be more flabbergasted by Shanghai. Shanghai is arguably the most beautiful and advanced city I have ever been to; everyone is one step ahead, and that idea is physically reflected in the visuals I get from walking around the city. There are also so many different experiences that I am getting from China that I simply could never get in the United States; there are no major tea plantations with legends about dragons, there are no rock cut Buddhist temples, there are no common Chinese artforms such as calligraphy, ink painting, bronzework, and celladonware that are plentiful in America, there is no bamboo to eat, etc.. I, along with the other 11 student on the trip, are so happy to be here, and we are so grateful to our parents for giving us this opportunity to experience something so culturally rich and fulfilling.

[Editor's Note: The picture depicts phase two of Sara's martial arts training.  As you can see, Sara and some of the other girls decided to dress up for the athletic competitions we would have with our EFZ partners later that morning; I think the football-style eye black really gave our team an edge.]