In the Pudong district in Shanghai. I’m standing on the outdoor observation deck in this photo and it was really scary because the floor is made entirely of glass, so you can see EVERYTHING beneath you. It was pretty cloudy when we went that day; the view below is probably gorgeous on a sunny day.
I went on a snack run today at the grocery store near my school, Trust-Mart, and I got everything in the picture (plus a few more) for only 65 元, which is about $6.50 USD!
My loot: 1 box of strawberry Pocky, 2 boxes of Pretz, a box of egg roll cookies, 2 folders, 1 bottle of soy sauce, dry erase board to practice my Chinese characters, a box of butter cookies, 2 erasers, and a reusable shopping bag.
汤圆
Originally uploaded by xiwang.love
I’ve been in Shanghai for exactly a week now and I *LOVE* it! The food is amazing and CHEAP (averaging about 5-15 元, which is $1 – $2 USD), especially the street food in the stalls and vendors that line the front and back gates of the school that I am studying at, East China Normal University (华东师范大学)! The city is very metropolitan – there’s so much to see and do. Transportation around the city is fast, cheap, and simple to navigate; I love using the subway unless it’s rush hour, when they squish people in like sardines. I have so much more to say but I have to go study my Chinese language textbook. Tomorrow is the first day of classes and we have homework and a vocabulary quiz already! I definitely feel like I have learned so much more Chinese since I arrived in Shanghai, especially now that I have to use it in my daily life all the time to order food and get around.
Final note: this photo is of 汤圆 (tāngyuán), a type of dumpling with a sweet sesame filling in the middle, that I ate at a restaurant tonight. Today is the Lantern Festival (元宵节), which is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar year. There’s fireworks and celebrations going on everywhere tonight!
I got a very unpleasant surprise tonight when I tasted my first batch of Necco Sweetheart candy of the year. I wait all year long for this candy and I was beyond horrified to realize they had changed the flavors. At first I thought maybe they just screwed up my box so I Googled it and it turns out they decided to “tinker” with the formula for the 2010 batch. WHY?! You’ve ruined my favorite Valentine candy, Necco! *shakes fist* I liked that chalky taste! I am outraged enough to actually post a blog about it when I should be studying for Chinese instead. There was still a ton of Sweetheart boxes and bag on clearance at Target yesterday. I was wondering why there were so many left until I tried them tonight and got my answer :(
This is just like the New Coke debacle. I know I’m not the only one who’s unhappy about the new flavors of the Sweethearts. Just do a Google search and you’ll see tons of results about people hating on the change. Even the Chicago Tribue had a blurb about it. Why mess with a good formula when it’s been working for the last 100 years? As one person on Facebook stated:
I just called them and complained about the lack of warning on the boxes about the horrible new flavors. They said that they received complaints over the years about the chalky taste, so they decided to appeal to the new generation. I countered with the fact that if they were truly that bad, they wouldn’t have been the… number one non-chocolate candy for Valentine’s Day.
Give us back the old Necco Sweetheart candy! I’m profoundly disappointed by the new flavors. Anyone want my boxes?
I love reading, always have, always will. I’ve had a library membership card since I was five years old and my mom used to take me to the public library at least once a week, every week, until I reached high school. These days, I don’t have much time to read for pleasure and instead I get to read about biology or psychology or genetics from some equally fascinating horribly dry (most of the time) textbook for my college classes instead. Then I saw J. Kayes Book Blog 100 Books Challenge, though, I knew it was something I wanted to try. More motivation for me to read – let’s see if I make 100 books by December 31, 2010!
