Second Post

     I just got back to my dorm room after eating with my friend Perrine (lovely French girl) and our Chinese friends, whose “English” names are Perry, Robert, Sheldon, (Yes, he did pick this English name after watching an episode of the Big Bang Theory!) Mark, and – my personal favorite -  Sunshine.  They had a good laugh watching me attempt to eat noodles with chopsticks, and we managed to communicate quite well through a mix of broken English, Chinese, and even some French substituted in to the conversation.  After the Chinese boys told us that our international student dorm was like a hotel, Perrine and I asked them to show us their dorms. 

             In the lobby, they have a row of hairdryers installed because apparently they aren’t allowed to use them in their dorm rooms.  Of course I took a picture of this, which they thought was strange.  Then they proceeded to show us their rooms… Two bunkbeds in each room, with four desks along the wall.  All of them had mosquito netting on the beds, which reminded me of many a mission trip I have been on in days past.  No mattresses, no air conditioner, and no central heating.  I suddenly became very grateful for my tiny AC unit! When Perrine and I asked to see what their community bathrooms looked like, they were shocked.  “You want see the bathroom, Bee-kah?! But why?!”  After explaining that their bathrooms do not have stalls or shower curtains (“like in American television series Prison Break”) we understood their shock a bit more.  Sunshine checked to make sure the coast was clear and we peeked in.  I suddenly became IMMENSELY grateful for my tiny water heater and bathroom=)

            The weekends here are hard for me; I am just now starting to make friends and know my way around.  I don’t get too homesick during the week because I am busy with classes and homework, but on the weekends I have too much time to think, and I start really missing home, friends, and family.  On Friday, I was planning to stay in until my friend Josh (Hendrix graduate; lives here and works for a TV production company, speaks fluent Chinese) called around 2am and invited me to go check out some of the after-hours night clubs, namely one called The Shelter, which is possibly one of the coolest places I have ever been.  It is a hiphop/dubstep club in an old, Cold War era bomb shelter.  We first went to a different club right down the street to see his roommate DJ. There were only two other people there, and they told me that most after hour clubs in Shanghai don’t get exciting til at LEAST 3am. Craziness!

            As we were walking around from place to place, we first got asked by a table of Chinese men who were outside on the street, gambling, if we wanted to buy some weed.  It’s nice to be around someone who speaks actual Chinese and English and can tell me what people are saying.  People yell stuff at me all the time and I usually have no idea what’s going on, lol.  We passed the usual beggars; men lying on the sidewalks with crutches, or horribly deformed legs/arms.  Then we happened upon a little old Chinese man who had a PET MONKEY, which was his way of earning money.  So cute! I wanted to take a picture but didn’t get the chance.

             After being bombarded full-force with loud music, drunk/high people, clouds of cigarette smoke, and too much culture, we decided to go to B&C bar, which is a little dive bar that is hands-down my favorite place here, and always what we resort to after we are all deaf and annoyed by the nightclub scene.  It’s a jewel hidden in a dark little alley off of ChingPing Lu, and the owner is a tiny little woman named Candy.  They have a free music list on the computer, so you can go search and find whatever songs you want and they will play on the loudspeakers.  Needless to say, with me (from Arkanasas) and Josh (from Texas) and sometimes Shane (from Missouri), everyone in the bar gets exposed to some nice, downhome, country music! As I pulled out my phone to see what time it was, Josh gave me some of the best advice in the world: “Don’t look at the time, it will only depress you.” How true, on several levels.  After ballroom dancing with the very drunk Dutch VIP of a major software company and having a nice chat with Candy, I finally hailed a cab to go home at 7am.  This city never sleeps