what's for dinner?

my testing room

the view

steroid goldfish

the turtle who thinks he can but couldn't

frogs and eels

gateway plaza grocery store

tech mall

no spitting, no combustibles!

green really isn't their color

it was a really nice day today in SH. the sun was out, there was a nice breeze..ok, it was more of a strong gusty wind but it was a cool strong gusty wind, not the typical gross muggy kind. a nice consolation for yesterday's gross insistent rain.

on my way back from the cop station, i heard the sound of children and peeked thru the gate to see uniformed grade school children play and scream and fight over this sparkly thing they used as a basketball. this kid was squatting beside the basketball hoop and looked like he was pooping but his pants weren't down so maybe he was on timeout.

i broke down. i ate baozis. not one, not two but three! i went all out. i ate one while walking to work, let it stew to see if there were any side effects. hours later, there still were none so on my way back to the subway station, i bought two more! i'm no vegetarian by any means but i wasn't ready for mystery meat so i stuck by the cai bao, and the veggie with tofu tasted just as good! ok but i admit, after i inhaled the 3rd baozi, i knew i ate too much. 

while walking through the underground maze of the shanghai south railway station, on my main path to work, i couldn't hold in my pee anymore. i had been holding it in all day, namely b/c many public toilets not only cost money, they're not toilets at all, they're squat pots. i figured at a railway station that looked pretty modern, they had to have toilets, right? right, they had toilets but they also had squat pots for those resistant to modernization but the bathroom smelled like the squats. i found myself a toilet and to no surprise, they don't offer toilet paper. not only that, they don't offer soap or paper towels at the bathroom sink. china's pretty cheap about plastic bags and napkins. this lady next to me whipped out her bar of soap and towel after washing her hand in the sink. i almost asked to borrow her soap but knew she'd probably charge me. note: hand sanitizer and kleenex is your best friend in china.

oh i went back to get my key re-done, since it wouldn't even fit inside the door lock. to my surprise, the clerk actually followed up with a phone call hours later to see if my key fit. dave thinks it's for repeat business but seriously, how often would i be duplicating keys?

i got my resident permit without complications but the cop told me i had to come back again after getting my work permit. shucks, i thought i was done with red tape for awhile. think again!

ok so i looked all around for this grocery store that you get to thru the subway tunnels. sense of direction is one thing i am left wanting. i could not find the darn place! i went thru every exit (there are like 5 in there) and couldn't find it. i was carrying at least 20 lbs of books i brought back from work and wore a thick sweater and jeans. i was hot and tired. i entered Metro City and that is like either a tech nightmare or wet dream, depending on how crazy you are. there are tons of employees who look super-bored and greet you vociferously inviting you to look at their overpriced products. i have yet to see someone actually buy something. that place has like 7 floors and 20 separate wings. and everything looks the same. finally, dave told me to find the gateway plaza. i went back to the subway system and exited 12/13. wala! i seriously needed facial tissue cuz i go thru those little portable kleenex packages like it's nobody's business. and i bought a little thing of soymilk cus i was craving it. while in there, i saw the funniest and saddest thing. i saw live turtles, eels, and frogs and what looked like goldfish on steroids. please see pics. i watched one turtle futilely attempt to climb the glass wall with his little claws then fall helplessly back down, then do it again. he was really trying to escape his destiny but it just wasn't happening for the fella. i considered liberating him on the market floor but then i thought, what if someone's shopping cart runs him over? i watched the other turtles squirm in their green netted bags and thought to myself, today is a good day NOT to be a turtle. i must add that i went inside the market where i bought my baozi and saw live chickens and roosters in cages. i remember that in beijing and was always terrified of their beaks. i guess people really like their food fresh. 

i learned that even if you get off of the subway on the wrong side of the street and at a 45 degree angle from where you'd like to end up, u can always go back into the subway or risk your life crossing the street. i risked my life today. also, if you ask 3 different people where a certain street is, you will get 3 different answers.. EVERYTIME. 

oh and check out the new prison, oh i mean clinic, i'll be working at. i don't get why every single window there is barred up like Fort Knox. 

just another day in shanghai.