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.

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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.

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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 (tāng​yuán)​, 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!

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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?

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1. Second Helpings – Megan McCafferty
2. The Other Boleyn – Phillipa Gregory
3. Remember Me - Sophie Kinsella
4. The Lake of Dead Languages - Carol Goodman
5. The Drowning Tree - Carol Goodman
6. Going Solo – Roald Dahl
7. Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher (February 8, 2010)
8. After - Amy Efaw (February 9, 2010)
9. Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell (February 11, 2010)

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The scale of 1.3 billion Chinese people doesn’t really quite register in your head until you come to China and see traffic congestion 24 hours a day, crowded subways, people cutting in line, people spitting everyone, etc.

I’ve literally never been out of the country before. For the past twenty years since I was born, my feet have been firmly planted in the United States of America. I’ve barely even left good old Texas, except for vacations to California, Florida, New York, etc, but those were at most week-long excursions where I happily returned home at the conclusion of the trip. But this study abroad trip is different: I’m going to be in a totally different country for four months, where there’s no such thing as freedom of speech and sites like Facebook and Youtube are blocked.

I think that may be part of why I’m freaking out – I’m used to living an American lifestyle shaped by the rights afforded to me by the U.S. Constitution, and more importantly, the Bill of Rights. Now that I’m actually taking the time to think about it, I’ve always taken for granted the fact that I have the ability to speak my mind and say whatever I want. Just being able to blog freely about my thoughts right now is not something that everyone in the world can do, whether it is due to technological or ideological limitations. I can’t imagine living in a society where censorship is the rule rather than the exception, where AIM messages may be monitored and search engine results filtered, but that is what I’ve been told to expect when I arrive in China and the idea just doesn’t sit well with me.

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The storyline itself contains several cliches that we’ve all seen in Asian dramas before (thankfully no one dies in this one!) but the chemistry between Ady An and Vanness Wu makes it a beautiful and moving story to watch and I found myself unable to stop. I flew through the first 13 episodes in two days, and the 14th episode just aired today! Like I said before, it’s currently still airing in Taiwan right now (and capturing first place in ratings!) but the episodes are usually subbed within a day or two so us non-Chinese speaking viewers can happily follow along too. That’s actually why I started looking for a new drama to watch; I’ll be studying abroad in Shanghai starting in February and I wanted to keep reviewing and listening to Chinese to prepare myself. I can understand bits and pieces as I watch the drama now, but I still need subs to fully understand everything ^^;

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I’m feeling lazy tonight so I’m just going to share a picture of one of my favorite kawaii sticker sacks. This is made by a company called Dix Sept and it features puddings and cakes and other delicious treats. I love their smiling faces. They look so happy and yummy! I ordered three or four extras just because I love this sack so much.

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This is my boyfriend’s miniature dachshund, Udon, sitting on top of our couch by the window as she waits for him to come home from grocery shopping. She’s still a little puppy (almost nine months old now!) and she gets a little anxious when he leaves. Sometimes she’ll drag her toys up onto the couch so she can play with them while she waits, heehee.

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