The ride home

So I got back from China last night at 3am. Yeah, it was pure craziness. Its not even worth describing the rest of my trip. The last 48 hours is the best.

So the flight from Shanghai to Chicago felt shorter then the flight to Shanghai. Probably because I was really tired from the trip and needed some sleep. Plus the trip was better because we flew over Alaska this time. So now I can say Ive been to 48 states, and seen 49. I guess thats not that cool. Anyway, we began our approach to Chicago right on time ten minutes after we left Shanghai (due to the International Date Line that someone placed in the Pacific Ocean). Anyway, we were right over Madison, Wisconsinwhen the pilot tells us that there is a storm in Chicago and we cant land. After circlingMadison a few times the pilot decides we are almost out of fuel so we fly to Milwaukee to refuel. This adds an extra hour and a half to our trip, which made us miss our connecting flight to Indianapolis. We were now stranded in Chicago for the night.

I was going to make it a fun night, so I called Andrea and went to her house to hang out. Considering it was her birthday, I thought it was an awesome idea. The next day we had breakfast before heading into the city to look at apartments for her. Right when we got to the apartments, the owner called us and told us he couldnt show it anymore. So instead we got some ice cream, walked through the zoo, and chilled on Lake Michigan. It was a pretty awesome time: although dark storm clouds were looming in the distance literally. Therefore, after Andrea dropped me off at the airport I discovered that my flight was delayed from 6:30 to 7:15. I was pissed, but could live with it. I checked my bags and headed to the terminal to wait for my flight. When I reached the gate I discovered the flight was delayed, now, until 9:05. In addition, I discovered that all my classmates had earlier flights home. Somehow I was the only one put on a 6pm flight. It never occurred for me to check on the times. This is when I called dad and told him to pick me up. I didnt foresee the situation getting better, only worse. So I left security to try and get my checked bags back. This is when hell broke loose. I found out that it would take a few hours to get my bags back, and I was pretty sure I left my boarding pass inside security. I was freaking out. After finding my boarding pass I decided to wait out the delay because if my parents came to Chicago I wouldnt be back to Muncie until midnight. Surely the plane would take off before then, right? This is when the story gets good:

I decided to go back to the gate, find a restaurant, get a beer and food, and surf the internet until an hour before the flight. So at 7:30 I left the bar and headed towards the gate (which has now moved across the airport). I felt good because the time had changed from 9:05 to 8:45. So things were getting better: until I arrived at the gate. I guess our plane was waiting on another plane to land because it had our flight crew on the plane. The plane (coming from Boston) was circling the airport, unable to land due to a storm. After a while, they had to reroute to Grand Rapids, Michigan due to a lack of fuel. EDT is now 10:30. After this plane landed in Grand Rapids, the storm that was inChicago approached Grand Rapids and the plane (supposedly) couldnt take off. EDT: 11:05. However, it was discovered that the plane was indeed in the air. EDT: 10:30. We were told the plane landed in Chicago around 10:15 (although we didnt see the crew arrive until a half an hour later. However, now we didnt care about the crew, because our pilot was on another plane that was waiting to dock at a terminal. The terminal it was suppose to dock at was occupied by a plane that needed to go to the hanger, but there was no one to take it to the hanger. So the plane the pilot was on chilled on the runway until 11:15ish. However, at 11:00 our crew finally showed up, so we could board the plane. We left the terminal at 11:30 and joined a huge waiting line to take off. We finally did around midnight Chicago time. Therefore we arrived in Indianapolis at 2am, because of the time switch. I was in Muncie by 3:30am. I was supposed to be back at 9pm.

Im kinda tired. But they gave me the day off.

China Part.. Something

So, I havent had internet in the last three weeks. Well that not true. Our hotel in Beijingdidnt have convenient access, and we didnt have time with our host families in Deyang.

Anyway, heres the low down. In Beijing I didnt have much time to do things I wanted because they were all about having us do on the bus with our group. I stated getting upset. We move constantly from 8 to 8. They also have our meal provided, which is nice because we dont pay and we eat good. But I can count the number of times Ive had to eat on my own. But we did go to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and other notable places around Beijing. The best day was our free day. I went out of the central city to an art district that was a revitalized factory. It was awesome. It was very run down with a number of art studios and stores in little buildings that use to be part of the factory. It was very low-key, too. Although, Beijing decided to have a dust storm during the time, so I got really gross. But Beijing in general was a gross city. It never rains and it is very near the desert. I mean, its dirty, but still cool. Anyway, after seeing the factory I wondered outside the area to some stores that had some cool stuff. There was a cd store, and I tried to find an artist that I thought was good in china. But they didnt know English, so I bought the green day album for 10 yuan (or 1.50). it had Chinese letters on it. The Chinese are about 5 years behind in music, and are all about the boy bands. Anyway, after the cd place I went to a tea store and bough some green tea. I then asked the lady where to get a bus to the central city. I had taken a taxi and thought the bus would be more fun. Anyway, she didnt know any English, so she took me to the bus stop and tried telling me in motions. During the process another lady began to help her, and the other lady told me to follow her. I then began a one hour bus ride back to the city, which involved three bus transfers. The lady totally took me the entire way, and they continued her journey where ever that was. It was amazing. She didnt know any English. So afterwards, I went to the subway to continue my day. Thats when some English speaking people approached me because they were lost. (It is very exciting when you see white or English speaking people here. you feel like you should talk to them). Anyway, they were from Britain and backpacking through China. I ended up giving them directions to a market, and then just going to the market with them. Afterwards, I went back to the hotel and we left for the airport to go to Deyang.

Anyway, Deyang is a city in inland China. Its four million people (bigger then Chicago), so its a small city in China. (Size is very relative here). We got there around midnight and we met our host families. It turns out that our host families have a student learning English. So there was a kid near my age his name was Wu Lei. It turned out to be an awesome experience. I will go more into it later. I need to go now!

Final minutes in Shanghai

Last day in Shanghai, and as far as people on here know Ive barley been in Shanghai, due to lack of updates. Well Shanghai in a nut shell was awesome. The only thing that sucks is we are basically a tour group. We will go non stop from 8am to 5 (sometimes 10) and barely have any free time. Its gets tiring sometimes just because I dont get time to see the city by myself, which I am use too. So here is what we basically did: we went to the top of the Jim Moa tower; we went to a Buddhist temple; we have been to three different markets; we went to a canal (sorta) city; a really big Chinese garden; an acrobat show; and a river tour. However, today I was able to go for a walk around the city by myself a four hour walk. I wanted to see the real Shanghai, but I discovered this was hard. Shanghai was basically founded as a city that allowed foreign countries to establish colonies in China. So Shanghai was nothing until the mid-1800s, and thenFrance and England set up colonies in this area. Therefore, Shanghai has very little history and the little history it does have lacks Chinese history. So the best place to go inShanghai seems to be the French concession which is where I walked today. This area is the same area we will go out at night. So, I wanted to see it during the day. The walk was ok, and I will try and post some pictures. It has a great blending of current Chinese culture with a hint of European style. After my walk, I went and exchanged the last amount of money that I have. This is the funny story of the week: Ball State Credit Union will not allow withdraws from certain countries anymore. This includes China. I was basically screwed about half way through this week. I have been trying to use my credit card when possible and then borrow money whenever I could. I finally ran out of money today. However, I have found a cheap was to cash advance my credit card, so I will soon be rich again. (Rich is a very relative term).

Anyway, I am waiting in the lobby for our group so we can go to the train station for out night train to Beijing. We are in first class sleepers. In fact, our entire trip has felt like were rich. Our hotel is super nice, we are always being shuttled around on the bus instead of public transit, all meals are taken care of, and they pay admission to everything we do. Now we are in first class sleepers tonight on the train. This is crazy, I think. I wish we could down grade a little and get a better experience. In fact, everyone was worried two days ago when we HAD to go to a restaurant and order our food by ourselves. Imagine being in China for over three weeks and having to do this! Crazy! I mean, seriously, we had been in China for five days and we had barley interacted with the Chinese. I thought this was crazy in itself. Oh well.

Things are super cheap here, which is nice when you are running out of money. We have gone to several markets most of which were locals trying to sell stuff to tourist for really cheap. Although it was a touristy spot, you learn a lot about these areas. I mean, much of this country relies off the western world, and this is just another way it is done. The funny thing is China is an emerging super power. Being in Shanghai for a week leads you to believe that. They are not a backwards country. They are very progressive and posess most rights given to a lot of other countries. One of the students asked me if the USA saw China as an economic threat, and I had to say yes. Why else would theUSA want to be Chinas friends so bad.

Anyway, the best bartering story I have was at the Old City where I thought I should by a watch since I couldnt use my cell phone to tell time. So we found someone selling watches the street so we asked her. She took us outside the market, to this one small road. Then inside the store we went to the back, to a hidden door, where we went to the back. It was pretty creepy. Fortunately there were three people with me. Anyway, once in the back of the creepy store I bought a watch, which is an expensive brand name I think. Fortunately, China doesnt have copyright rules, so you can buy a copy of almost anything.

Anyway, Im going to sign off.

First Impressions

Our plane finally landed in Shanghai at 3pm. It literally took us two hours to get through all the check in points. We first had to get our passports stamps, which took a good half hour. We seemingly picked the only line that wasnt moving. In doing so, we learned that the humidity level in Shanghai sucked. I felt gross. I had been sitting on a plane for fourteen hours, and now I was subjected to these conditions. Not really. But after we got through the passport line we picked up our luggage and gave them our customs form. We finally exited the security portion of the airport. A mass of people were awaiting us outside. It was really busy. We weaved through these masses of people and then found Nihal. Then it was time to exchange our money. I chose to go to the other exchange window so me, and a small group of people, got our money. I exchanged $100 for about 720 Yuan. Then we all conjugated in a tight group as the entire airport rushed around us. As we waiting for the other people to finish their exchange of money, we clustered in our group afraid to move due to the hoards of people running by us. It was pointed out how quite it was, even with all these people. We observed this even several more times.

After all the airport business was complete, we went out and got our bus to the university. It was about an hour away, and we were in rush hour traffic. Fortunately the temperature outside wasnt as humid as it was in the airport. However, it was still cloudy and hazy. The bus ride back to the university made me aware of one thing that stayed apparent throughout the trip. The roads seemed to be a huge free-for-all. After we got off the highway, which was slow moving, we entered the city streets. The streets had a good hierarchy: sidewalks along the edge, a huge probably fifteen foot bike lane, and then traffic lanes. We soon learned that even though pedestrians didnt have the right-away in China, they were more aggressive then the cars and buses. I watched in amazement as bicyclers and pedestrians would cut off busses and cars. From my eyes there were close calls. But I learned that these close calls were very normal and it was the only chance you had to make it though traffic. For instance, our bus had the green light, but so did the bicycles and mopeds. Therefore, our bus pushed its way through the bike lane as it made the right hand turn.

We finally arrived at the University of Shanghai and obtained our rooms. The rooms were great. The beds were hard, but comfortable; we had refrigerator and other necessities. The only thing we didnt have was wireless, but we could get that in the lobby. So it wasnt bad at all. The university prepared us dinner, which I soon learned that I would have to use chopsticks or go hungry. Whenever I ate out I would give up on chopsticks because I could never master them. Now it would have to be mastered. The food was good. We were given a bowl of rice and then several dishes with different kinds of meet and vegetables. No drink, though. After the meal our ENTIRE group went to Nanjing Road. This road was equivalent to Broadway or Piccadilly Circus, just not as many theater and eating options. It was more or less the tourist area: bright lights, big signs, pedestrian only access. I even wondered one block off the road and discovered an entirely different scene, a scene that would portray China a little better. Along the street were tons of pan handlers and sellers. I mean a ton. They attacked us Im assuming because we were obviously out of town. People would approach our group and attempted to sell anything from watches and food to massages. One lady approached Mathais and wouldnt leave him alone as we walked down the street. So I stood in front of the lady and stopped walking similar to the immaturity taking place in the third grade. I thought this would surely get her away. I was wrong. Not only did our group laugh, but so did the lady. She started laughing very hard and continued her quest for money. Mathais finally gave her some and she left us along. Afterwards, we met our group and headed back to the hotel via the subway and busses. These were very cheap. The entire trip cost us 12 Yuan, which equals about $1.75. Not bad. On our way back to the hotel Maylene and Ramone stopped to get a pair of shoes on the side of the street. They got (fake) Pumas for 75 Yuan or about $10. Still not bad. We went to our hotel room, and Mathais and me were out right away.

En Route

Its about 10:00pm at home, which means that we left Indiana twelve hours ago. But I really have no concept of time right now. For instance, were over Siberia. My screen says its about noon here. Its 10am in Sang hi. This means nothing to me, really. (Which is why I decided to put this post as Siberia time). However, the screen does tell me that we will land in about five hours. My whole realm of existence relies on this screen on the back of my seat, right now. I am also sitting next to the window. So every once and a while I can make sure the wing is still attached to the plane because thats all I can see. I was really looking forward to getting a window seat because we flew over the north pole. It just seemed cool to see the north pole. I dunno why. But, all I can see is the wing of the plane. So the only evidence I have visiting the north pole is a picture I took of the screen on the back of my seat.

Last night I started packing around 8pm. I actually did an awesome job. I guess Im getting use to living out of a suitcase. The only thing I forgot to do was back up my computer. This isnt bad since I barley had time to pack. I guess I scheduled to much for this week because I thought I would be free after classes were over. This was untrue. I was busy up until Saturday attending graduation parties and such. It was fun, nonetheless, but it didnt give me anytime to do anything. At midnight last night I was ready for bed when Mel finally called and told me to come to another graduation party. I was demanded to go. I only stayed at the party for a little bit, and I almost slept through my alarm at 4am the next morning.

I ate breakfast with mom, dad, and Madelyn which was really fun. Then we got the airport and hung out until I felt the need to go through security. This security check was flawless, unlike the only other time I flew internationally from the states. The last time I had to get into a line with two other Arabs so they could pat me down and thoroughly check all my luggage. I feel a lot safer due to racial profiling at the airports. However, that line was a lot shorter then the other security line, so I got through a lot faster.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with this trip. I made it through security and we boarded the plan pretty fast. Our layover in Chicago was two hours, but nothing compared to my three hour lay over a week ago when I was coming back from Austin. (In addition, two flights left for Indy before our flight. It sucked). Anyway, Im telling a lot of past stories. This only confirms that this trip isnt bad so far. The only weird thing was while we were waiting at OHare. Some guy was picking popcorn off the floor and eating it. Then he was digging through the trash can for something I dunno what. I didnt expect to see homeless people at the airport. It totally seemed like this was the case. But I think he got on our plane to Shanghi.

This particular flight has been about nine hours so far. I watched this one show with Queen Latisha, where she is about to die so she blows all her money. The story ends happily, I guess. Like, she finds out shes NOT going to die. (Did I just ruin the movie for you? I feel bad). Anyway, I didnt really see this as a good thing. In my figures, she spent up $100,000 including her life savings. Now shes not going to die. What is she planning on doing? She has no job or money. But I guess she hooked up with this guy. So thats cool. He wanted to marry the chick when he thought she was dying. Im all about true love, but you need to think financially for just a little bit. I want to marry someone who is dying in a week and has $100,000 in debt. It just doesnt seem right.

Anyway, when we land in Shanghi it will be 3pm on Monday or 3am Monday morning inIndiana. This works well with my new sleeping pattern I was thinking about trying.