I never expected to get settled in so quickly, to pick up routines and have local "haunts", but thanks to the help of my friends that have been here, Shanghai doesn't feel strange at all. It actually feels like I live here....which, according to the police I don't yet because I haven't registered with them.....oops.
I finally met my other roommate, Emily, and she's great. She's also from the U.K., and her half Japanese boyfriend is staying here too for a bit and they are both really sweet. Unfortunately, in the U.K., unlike in the U.S., you can't just add pages on to your passport when you run out, so Emily has run into some visa troubles and has to leave for a month or so. So I guess I'll be getting a new, temporary roommate here for about a month - really hoping we don't get a weirdo who is into freakishly growing their pinky and thumb nails out like the Chinese here. Really grosses me out, and I don't really want to know exactly why they do it.
Other new things: if you stalk my facebook (I hope you do), you have seen my beautiful new scoot scoot. I feel like such a baller driving it around, obeying the Chinese way of driving, (don't pay attention to lights, street signs, or pedestrians) but I especially like not arriving some place and having to shake off like a dog because I'm sweating so much in this damn humidity.
Charging my scooter is a bit of a challenge though - apparently at our apt complex the guards yell at you if you charge your battery in the basement (not as intimidating since I have no idea what they are saying), and the power center on the corner charges you 1 kuai for every ten minutes, so I have had to take the battery out of my scooter and bring it up to my apartment to charge it overnight. It weighs about 80 pounds. Seriously. I've never encountered a denser package in my entire life....it must be filled with plutonium because i can only carry it about 8 feet at a time, and if I didn't have an elevator I'd never get it up to my apt at all. Roommate suggestion: buy a skateboard and transport it on there - I think this is a brilliant idea, but am a little worried I will try the skateboard myself and break something.
In other news, I have started Mandarin classes - three hours a day, five days a week - which are a little challenging (the people in my class definitely understand more than I do) but I desperately want to get my Chinese better in a hurry. A worker came to fix our toilet yesterday, talked to me for five minutes afterwards, and it was only when my roommate came back and talked to him that I realized he had been threatening to charge us for the next time he had to fix something. I had been sitting there thanking him and saying "Good, good" the whole time. Then again maybe I could have frustrated him enough that, had he wanted payment immediately, he would have given up.
Another Chinese mishap occurred when I tried to make mashed potatoes the other day. I ran to the corner market to get milk, and after I made the mashed potatoes and started eating them, I realized I had bought yogurt instead and put it into the mashed potatoes. I still ate them, but I can tell you milk tastes much better.
Best part of my week: going over to Angela Zhou's house and getting crazy with the Zhous.
Angela is my friend who is from Shanghai, and whom I met during my first stint in Shanghai. The Zhous on numerous occasions had invited me over for dinner and treated me with such good hospitality that I felt quite obligated to return the favor. The plan for Friday night was that I would come and cook Italian food, and Fabi would cook Flan, and treat the Zhous to a little laowai (foreigner) food.
It ended up that not only did Mr. Zhou make us about 10 dishes, but we didn't even eat the pasta I made, and instead stuffed ourselves on Chinese food (best spring rolls I've ever had) and got drunk on the 6 bottles of wine and liquor Mr. Zhou pushed on us, even trying some rice liquor he made himself and a bottle of liquor marinated a la dead snake.
I brought Fabi, Adrian, and Juan Pablo with me, because the Zhous have always been so encouraging to bring friends, and I dare say they love the Zhous as much as I do. Mr. Zhou almost drank Adrian under the table (don't deny it Adrian - we all saw you dry heaving at the table), and he certainly got Alex (who was late and had to take shots to make up for it) wasted. The spanish speakers also taught Mr. Zhou how to say "Salud" when he drank, so at least we were all having valuable international exchanges - besides the Russian vodka, Chinese liquor, and Chilean wine.
The rest of the night was....just insane. We went to Mural's 100 kuai all-you-can-drink night, and proceeded to ....party? We had already all had a lot to drink, and besides Alex, who was helped home by Adrian, proceeded to drink more, dance, and dump drinks on each other's heads.
Oh wait....*cough* Fabi and Juan Pablo *cough*
Happy to be a witness to that, as you have not been amused until you see someone's hair flattened by a glass of whiskey and Bailey's. At least you got him first, Fabi.
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