Day pics

Holy Shit

I just got an email from saxon court, the people i was going to be working for in Tokyo:

Dear Nathan,

I hope your travels are going well.

I have been told by Tokyo that your start date is no longer January 3rd. An unforeseen number of teachers are renewing their contracts next year, meaning that you won't start now until March 23rd.

I realize that it will require you to completely re-think your plans and I apologize for the inconvenience. Please let me know your thoughts on this.

Kind regards,

---

There's a rumbling in my belly that is telling me a 6 month contract with scholastic might hit the spot...or it might be the strange noodles I had for dinner... Shanghai might be my calling...

Homestay

So I'm at my home-stay. Things are interesting. It's a modern apartment so thats all fine, but I'm not sure how much Chinese food I can eat. You might be thinking, Nate, you're crazy, I love Chinese food, I'd love to be in your situation. American Chinese food and Chinese, Chinese food, are very different. That's all I have to say for now. I really need to find something to do during the day, even if it is just walking around. The host family is very nice and they want to feed me, I just...I just don't know. I'm not the biggest germ-a-phobe there is, but China can bring it out of you. Chinese style family eating does not include plates. All you get is chopsticks and a spoon. When the dishes go down in front of you you just eat off of them. Everyone is eating off all the plates. Dipping sauces are a double dunkers dream, and well, it's just going to take some getting used to that's all. I hope I get used to it cause I'm a little hungry... I just like my food, as well, my food!! I hope this works out..haha...My host family is super nice, so that's not it, but those who know me, know I like my food! This blog has sort of rotated around what I've been eating and my spirits have been high so far..two months till I'm back in Tokyo..let's see how it goes...

The dark city

Maybe coming from Japan, makes me feel this way, but everything in Shanghai is dark. Even when there are lights on nothing is too bright. I always feel as if I need to screw the lightbulbs in tighter, or get new bulbs altogether.  Not seeing the sun during the day I think has also played a roll in the feel of the city.  Things are dusty, dirty, and under construction. I haven't been snapping photos off like I did in Tokyo, but here are a bunch from my first full week here in the city that flies. 

These pics don't signify any historic landmarks or anything like that, just some basic scenery not to far from Debbie and John's. Since I take so many pictures I usually filter the ones that I put on here. I choose the ones that are framed the best, or that I like the best, but since the blog has been starved of photos recently I'm just going to put up all the Shanghai flicks I have so far. ENJOY!