I am in Shanghai right now on the China Intercultural Studies Program from July 3rd to August 1st, 2009.  While I'm here I will try to engage the chinese students to use East Villagers.  I will try my best to update this blog entry with snapshots of my day here.  At the end of the program, I will write another entry with a summary of my overall experience.  Enjoy!

Day 1, July 4, Saturday

I arrived safely after a 14 hour flight.  I had allergies right before I departed LAX and had my temperature checked before entering Shanghai.  It was a good thing I did not get quarantined.  I met Joanna and Kortney at LAX and we all went to Shanghai together.  We all arrived at the hotel near Fudan around 10pm and were very exhausted.  We were the last ones to arrive due to our flight being delayed.  The weather in Shanghai at around 10pm was slightly humid but not too bad.  My roommates' name is Irene and we get along really well.  We both had a good night's sleep and woke up early in the morning around 6am.

Day 2, July 5, Sunday

Today was a long day full of very meaningful events.  From the morning, we had orientation to go over logistics, goals, and program schedule. We met with PESI alumni and they shared about their work in Shanghai.  We got to eat dinner with the professionals and had a chance to ask them questions.  Then we went sightseeing at Jin Mao Tower, and I got to take pictures of all the skyscrapers at night.  The buildings and city lights overwhelmed me and I wonder how the people in Shanghai feel about the rapid change.  Dan, our director, told us that 15 years ago the area was rural farmland.  All in all, today was very tiring but good to have an overview of the program and get to know my teammates more.  I'm going to sign off to sleep now - 10pm Shanghai time - we need to wake up at 6am tomorrow and class starts at 8:30am.

Day 3, July 6, Monday

The humid weather is still gripping onto my clothes and skin but I am getting used to it.  I am still not over jetlag and wake up everyday around 5am.  Right now it is 8:20pm and I feel like I want to go to sleep. Hopefully, I'll be over it soon.  We had our course orientation today at Fudan University.  We saw a few movies to become more acquainted with Chinese history and background before diving into the course topic of china international relations and economics.   I have never taken a class on this topic before so I'm interested in learning more about this area.  After class, around 3:30pm, we heard thunderstorms and rained.  I had a good conversation with my roommate today about reasons why we are in China.  I think I'm going to rest now. Until the next entry...

Day 4, July 7, Tuesday

Today's weather was so much nicer than any other day I've been in Shanghai.  I woke up eating two red bean buns and a little cup of yogurt for breakfast.  We watched a movie about China and Shanghai today and I learned so much.  After a wonderful lunch with the girls in my group, we returned to class to listen to Professor Ni's lecture.  It was very interesting to hear a Chinese professor's perspective on the topic "China and the World."  His talk was very interesting and english was very clear.  After class, I met up with an old friend from Stanford and we explored the city of Shanghai.  It was so good to finally catch up after two years.  I really enjoyed today because of everything I learned, having the opportunity to catch up with my friend, and the wonderful weather (no rain).

Day 5&6, July 8-9, Wednesday and Thursday

I want to combine my blog for these two dates because on Wednesday I was taking care of logistics all morning and during the afternoon, I was holding a training session until night time.  Today (Thursday) was great because I got to come to lecture again and I really enjoy learning about China from a Chinese professor's viewpoint.  I've taken similar courses taught by American professors, and this opportunity gives me a more well-rounded perspective on China.  In the afternoon, a guest speaker talked about her company which involves yak milk and fur and how she's able to carry out her idea into a company.  Afterwards, I met up with a few TECC and PESI leaders to discuss the schedule for July 11 (Saturday) training session for the More for Migrant Kids Summer Camp.  It seems to be falling together and I'm happy to see that.  During the evening we had group debriefing where we're able to share about our experience thus far for the first week and Dan, our director, shared some very insightful material about cross-cultural relationships and how acceptance is so important which involves patience, humility, respect, and much more in our actions with not only people in China but people in general to show that we love and value them as a human.  He went through a few articles and pointed out some insightful observations about American culture which involves impatience and a high value for efficiency and directness whereas Chinese culture may be different.  My days have been pretty eventful and I'm glad to be sharing that I'm learning a lot.  I'm grateful to finally get over my cold so soon.

Day 7-9, July 10-12, Friday Saturday Sunday

These few days were devoted to East Villagers Training and presenting about East Villagers for around 100 Chinese and American students.  Check out my blog about EV Training in Shanghai Week 1 for more details.