Shanghai

Happy Belated Dragon Boat Festival! Saturday was a holiday and I had the whole day off! I wanted to get out of Zhangjiagang and experience some more of China. A student, Justin and I made the 2 hour bus ride to Shanghai for some sightseeing. Shanghai is way more modern than where I'm living, the bus station alone has a Starbucks, KFC, McDonald's and a ColdStones, plus they have a very advanced subway system.  

First stop was the People's Square, it is a large park in the center of Shanghai, since it was cloudy and rainy there weren't as many people there as I was planning for. Everyone briefed me on how crowded it would be and that you wouldn't have room to move but it wasn't bad at all. The rain made me feel like home. :) They did have a large crowd of older people looking at ads for potential mate for their children or grandchildren. They had rows and rows of personal ads for both men and women seeking a spouse, its crazy to think that, thats how people get hooked up. I attached a photo of the wall of ads. 

They have a museum in the middle of the park that was exhibiting Van Cleef and Arpels jewelry. Some of the most beautiful jewelry, they even had a tiara that Princess Grace wore, I would have killed for just one piece from the collection. 

My favorite piece 

Princess Grace's Tiara 

We then went to the Oriental Pearl Tower which is one of the largest buildings in China and the 3rd largest TV tower in the world. We took the elevator all the way to the top floor which is 350m high (that over a 1,000 feet). It was cloudy of we couldn't really see anything except looking down. It was still a fun experience and I am for sure going back when the weather is better. So now I can check Shanghai off my list of places to see :)

Oriental Pearl Tower

Justin and Me 

From the top

ECA

Once a month my work holds a special extra curricular activity for the students, this month was all about dance and I got to host it. I taught them the chicken dance, electric slide and the Hoedown Throwdown from the Hannah Montana movie. They seemed to really like the chicken dance but had a harder time with the electric slide. OH but they love the bunny hop! It was quite a feat trying to get the normally very reserved Chinese to break out of their comfort zone and dance in front of everyone else but after a little bit people started to loosen up and just enjoy the dancing. I think everyone had a good time. :) 

The Bunny Hop 

PS Its hard to tell in the photos but they are indeed dancing. 

Making Friends

Well nothing too exciting happened this week. But I did get the chance to meet some more foreigners last night. I met another american girl through a part time job I have on Wednesday and she was nice enough to invite me to a going away party for one of her friends. It was really nice to be around people my own age and talking without having to explain random words. I had a fun time and meet some really cool, new people. Plus since it was at a bar and I was the only one not drinking (or smoking) I got to do some stealth missionary work and talk about the church. Nothing too in-depth but I'm hoping that the next time they meet a Mormon that they will remember me and that I was awesome even though I didn't drink. :)

KTV

So most nights I just go home, maybe watch a movie, and then go to sleep but last night I got to experience some Zhangjiagang nightlife. KTV is a kareoke establishment that hosts private kareoke rooms.
Myself, two of the other foreign teachers and about 6 students went and had a blast singing kareoke all night long. They have both english and chinese songs to choose from, however the english songs are limited to modern pop, luckily I like J. Beibs and T. Swift.