Last Weekend in Shanghai

Last week, I had a wonderful opportunity to go to Shanghai. One of my best friends was holding her wedding on Saturday. Now, I have been to Chinese weddings before, and have not really been all that interested. Once you have been to one, you’ve been to them all. This one though, was quite different.

First of all, my friend is very much Chinese, but has always been interested in western culture. This came out in her wedding. She had what appeared to be almost a typical western wedding. The only exception of course, is that it was all in the Chinese language. The wedding was great. There was a choir that was singing. They said their vows before God and all of the witnesses, and of course a kiss to seal the deal.

It was a great time!


I also took the opportunity to stay in Shanghai for a few days. A few of my friends who are new to teaching in China asked if I would take them around Shanghai and show them some of the sights. So, we spent a few days doing all of the typical tourist stuff. We went to the Bund, the knock-off markets, Yu Yuan Gardens, and Nanjing walking street. It was really quite fun I hadn’t done any of those things in a while.

Another thing that we noticed is that the Shanghai World Expo is in full swing. Within the first two weeks of the Expo there were over two million visitors. As a result, the city is packed. I would love to go to the Expo, but I am planning to go much later after the some of the craziness dies down.


That’s all for now!

“The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes "sight-seeing."”

Daniel J. Boorstin

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cooking Up a Storm

Image
There has been quite a bit of coverage in the media about the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus. Obviously, Chinese businesses have been hit quite hard, as have the businesses around the world that rely on Chinese consumers and manufacturers.  One thing that has gone somewhat unnoticed is the effect it is having on some farmers. Katie has been following the chatter on the web about the struggles that some farmers are having because their products are not consumed as frequently as the staple grains, proteins, and vegetables that typically comprise the average Chinese diet. Many of them are selling their products for well below their average price in an attempt to increase demand; it is sad to think that their products are spoiling when they could be helping so many people. My wife has a huge heart, and over the past few weeks, she has been ordering things from these farmers online, and not just in small amounts… like a lot. So, we’ve had foods like, okra, asparagus, basil, and
Read more

Pan Wei Bo Concert

Image
Last Sunday night I had a rather unique opportunity. One of my friends was given tickets to a concert. She asked me if I wanted to go. I thought about it for a while, and I decided to go. It’s not too often that famous pop stars make it all the way to Changzhou, so I had to check it out. The concert was held in a small sports stadium that was built within the last year and modeled after the bird’s nest in Olympic park in Beijing. I would guess that there were about 20,000 people there. One thing that I noticed immediately was that although the tickets had seat assignments, very few people sat in their seats. This was nice because my friend Dorty was able to sit by me. The tickets that we had were for seats that were not near each other. Ironically, I also saw my friend Andrew there, so he also sat by us. The stage was an explosion of dancing lights. The setup was very elaborate. The concert was not at all what I was expecting. The headline name for the concert was Pan Wei Bo (a famous
Read more

Getting Ready for Christmas

Image
Wow, this year is going so fast. The holiday’s really snuck up on me. The last four months have seemed like an endless flurry of events. I really feel as if my feet have not yet touched the ground since I arrived here in August. I do know that Christmas is one of the most important holidays in my country, and each year it is my greatest hope that I can communicate the true meaning of Christmas with my students, friends, and everyone else in my life here. Each year I take one class period and explain the culture of Christmas to all of my students. Many of them know things about Christmas. Usually, their knowledge is limited to Santa Claus, gifts, and Christmas trees. In addition to explaining those things, I try to explain to them that Christmas is much more than that. I tell them the reason that we give gifts and why we started to do that some two thousand years ago. It is always so amazing to see the wonder in their eyes when they begin to understand the true meaning of Christmas. The
Read more