Visitors

Another long week and little to report.....

I had my first Chinese test this week; 50 minutes of oral examination followed by an hour of written work. As grueling as that sounds, it really wasn't too bad, the teachers don't expect miracles from us, just effort. A made a 93% which is a definite confidence booster, however I am constantly reminded of how different classroom Chinese is from practical Chinese; cab drivers still have no idea where I am asking them to take me.

I was trying to go to Chengdu this weekend to see/hold baby pandas, but I unfortunately couldn't make the trip happen. I have applied for a new visa which would allow me to exit and re-enter China (this will be necessary to visit Hong Kong and Macau, or possibly Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia if I stay here this summer........) and the Visa office will not get my passport back to me in time to make the flight. Thus - No passport=no travel=no Chengdu=no panda petting. Pretty dissapointing, but the new visa is vital.

One final note - I had a visitor come to Shanghai this week! My friend Leeds, from GW, has been back packing SE Asia for about a month and dropped in on Tuesday after my test (needless to say we had a good time- and for those of you who know him, you would not believe the ridiculous beard he has). Seeing as how China is on the opposite side of the world I never expected I would be spending time with people I know from home. However, in the past week I have recieved two more messages from friends who will be randomly traveling through Shanghai, I guess I thought wrong.....