For China [part 2]
As many of you may know, I got accepted to a summer course in Shanghai this summer for three weeks. It has now come to my attention (although I can’t say I didn’t expect it) that Shanghai is one of the most polluted cities in the world. So, if I’m not back home when I’m supposed to be, then it’s most likely because I’ve crawled up and died due to lack of fresh air (something which I so direly need – not because I’m asthmatic or anything; I just can’t stand it when all I’m breathing is car fumes or (even worse) cigarette smoke, for example).
On another note, I’m reading up on the Great Firewall of China and how to possible get past it in order to have unlimited access to the internet (luckily enough the place I’ll be staying at has an internet connection in every room), because according to Wiki, popular blogging sites (including WordPress) are frequently blocked. I have high hopes in Tor though. We’ll simply have to see once I’m there, but I’ll do my best to keep y’all updated with this blog, internet censorship or not. (Not that I think this is a very controversial post, but let’s just hope no one decides to suddenly not give me a visa because of this.)
Also, I’m starting to think I’ll be in pretty deep water not knowing any more Chinese than “mao” (in Mandarin), which apparantly means “cat” as long as it’s pronounced correctly (which I probably can’t do anyway), lest it’ll mean something entirely different (no idea what though). But oh well, that’s the whole point of adventures, neh?
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Song of the day: Moby – Homeward angel
[Click to see in high resolution]
“ni hao” means “hi”. With that you can atleast greet people ^^
Good to know! Does anyone else have any good tips?
I think I am too late for tips since you are just arriving in China today I think. But dui buqi (dooay boochee) means I am sorry. You may need to say that a lot when you bump in to people. Xie xie (shee-eh shee-eh) means thank you. I doubt you will read this since WordPress was blocked the entire time I was in China and so was hotmail and many other sites. Buy yourself a good mask when trying to breath. Shanghai was not too bad when I was there. Where else can you purchase 10 Rolex watches for less than $50.00 total. They must be real cause they were made in China. The Bund is fun…make sure you go there and avoid the Rolex watch guy. You will have a wonderful experience there. The people are wonderful and Shanghai is awesome. Do NOT accept and invitation to to to a tea house with other university students that are trying to learn english. IT IS A MAJOR SCAM. And the scammers are real good at making it seem real. As a matter of fact…dont follow anyone anywhere. Shanghai is notorious for scammers – probably because of the large number of tourists as easy marks.
Zai jian (bye) Zappha
I thank you dearly for your comment! It’s helped me out already in fact, because overly friendly chinese students already tried inviting me and a friend to a tea ceremony, and your warning made me avoid the trap! I’ve successfully bypassed the firewall thanks to Tor, that’s why I can actually write this. (yay!). Already done some sweet shopping. Blog post coming up on it soon =)