Woke up at 4AM. My early rising may have been due to my jet lag. I sat around and watched Chinese television for a while. At around 6AM I walked around campus and watched people. Lots of people were carrying around large colorful thermoses of hot water or tea.
I knocked on Mark�s door. He didn�t seem to be up yet, so I walked around some more. At around 7AM Mark finally answered the door. I tried to get online to email home via Mark�s laptop, but I was unable to. This proved to be an ongoing problem with internet access throughout my stay in China.
Mark�s classes watched Disney�s Mulan. Mark had gotten a Japanese VCR to use with the VHS video tape from America. I had not seen Mulan before. Two classes were combined in the same classroom to watch the movie.
After the first session I decided to go out on my own to the streets of Shanghai. I took my cameras to make pictures. I discovered that my 35MM camera had a low battery. I never use the camera since I use my digital camera almost exclusively. I was a bit anxious to see if I could find a battery for it. I walked back to Mark�s classroom. His class was busy watching Mulan again so I motioned for him to come out into the hall. He said that we could try to look for a camera battery this afternoon.
I decided to head back to my room to rest and wait for Mark to get back at 11:30. I watched an American cop show dubbed in Chinese. Everyone was carrying guns which seemed to solidify the stereotype that most Chinese think that Americans all carry guns around. Surprisingly I also saw a video of Billy Ray Cyrus. I also saw an advertisement for Pentium 4 with the Blue Men.
While I was waiting, the cleaning ladies came in to make the bed and to change the towels.
Nearer toward the time when Mark was supposed to get back, I went upstairs to knock on his down � no answer. I waited out on the top floor and saw him. I shouted to him and he waved back.
Mark said that we could go to Pizza Inn for lunch. He said that one of his students would be accompanying him. It was Ruth, but a different Ruth than what we had met before.
The pizza at Pizza Inn was okay. It had that slight Chinese oily taste to it. When they brought the cokes to us, I noticed they had placed lemons in the glasses of the cokes. While in Pizza Inn I noticed there was a TV playing music videos. The videos I saw showed groups like New Kids on the Block, Whitney Houston, and Destiny�s Child � �Survivor.� We had about 3 pieces of pizza leftover. Mark requested a �to go� box.
We rode the bus back to the school. Before I left for China, Mark had told me that haircuts were extremely cheap in China. So I decided to let my hair grow out and get a haircut in China. We checked with the barbershop on campus. They were busy with several other people, so we decided to try to find a battery for my camera. We walked to a Kodak store near school. Surprisingly they had the batteries available. I purchased 2 for my camera.
We went back to the barbershop for my haircut. The male barber cut my hair. Mark had requested a shampoo for me also. After my haircut, the lady put shampoo in my hair and began rubbing my head. She rubbed it for a good 15 to 20 minutes adding a bit more shampoo ever so often. It was very relaxing. Just about the time when I was getting tired of it, she asked me to go to the sink to rinse.
We went to Mark�s room to try to get on the internet so that I could email home. We were unsuccessful. Instead I worked offline on my webpage. After feeling very relaxed I went back to the room to rest. Mark and Paul arrived back at the room. Mark had arranged for Paul to take me to Xi�an during the May Day holidays. We were supposed to be planning the trip. Paul was also getting him to purchase a computer for him. Mark was purchasing it from a US company over the web since it was a lot cheaper in the US. Since Mark�s internet account seemed to be inaccessible, they used Paul�s internet account. For an hour they looked at options for computers and compared prices. I was able to update my webpage and email home using Paul�s internet account. I also emailed all my friends to let them know about my updated webpage.
It was getting to be suppertime Mark suggested we go to the Chinese version of Denny�s which was down the street from the school. It was raining and it was difficult to avoid stepping in puddles. I had dumplings at the restaurant. I had gone next door at the Lawsons to get a cola since they don�t serve cola at the Chinese Denny�s. During supper we discussed Chinese and American differences with Paul and Bund.
Mark, Bund, and I went to a study at a Hong Kong person�s house. It was located in a very nice gated apartment complex. We had to use the intercom system to call the resident to let us in. There was a doorman available for security purposes.
As we entered the apartment we took off our shoes. I was surprised to learn that taking off your shoes was also a Chinese tradition. I was under the impression that it was exclusively a Japanese tradition.
The apartment was furnished very nicely. When entering the apartment complex you really get a sense of forgetting that you are in China. Somehow you feel as though you are in America. This happened a few times while we were in China. CNN in English was on the television. I had thought that it would have been censored. The room had hardwood floors with a floor heater on it. I was glad to have the floor heater since my feet were still wet from walking in the rain.
At the study people from the Bahamas, Washington State, and Missouri were there. Afterwards we ate chicken wings. We took a taxi home. When we got back to the school we noticed that Paul was waiting in the lobby of the guesthouse. Mark and Paul set about to purchase the computer. I went to bed.