"Just walk around like you own the place!" *CLANG!* "Gah! Stupid ticket gate!"

So, yesterday. Where do I start? Yesterday was my first full day in Shanghai. It began at 3:30am after one of the worst night's sleep in my life. Somewhere deep in my brain, my biological clock was just like, "Nah, girl, it's time to get up, not go to sleep!" So despite that I had been up for like 30 hours... I wasn't having luck falling and staying sleep.

I went through my welcome kit and found my archaic piece of cell phone technology, and several handy guide books, teaching texts, and orientation materials. I met my fellow teachers downstairs in the hotel lobby. I was surprised by how many of us there were! We filled 3 taxi vans! We arrived at EF headquarters, located near Jing'An Temple around 8am. We were served a light breakfast of coffee/tea and what is locally called, "bing". It's like a Pita thing with some sort of seasoning/veggie stuff. It was really good. We had some time to chat and get to know each other, then we broke off into groups to go over paperwork, resident visas, and all sorts of other fun things.

About lunchtime we stretched our legs and had our first metro experience. These stations are HUGE! They are like small cities underground. It's amazing! Shops, food, passport photo vending machines, more shops (this is where you'll find that fake or reject Vuitton bag), and more food! Each station has multiple entrances and exits leading to different areas, and you can easily get lost or end up on the opposite side of the giant station from your Hotel and end up walking around for 2 hours until you learn there are two Exit 4's, and you picked the wrong one. Not that we know what that's like...

We had lunch in a large food hall with endless dining options. I went for the first one with an English menu, not wanting to get too chancy on my first day. It was delicious, but between jet-lag, sleep deprivation, and the heat I didn't eat much for fear of it coming back up.

China Tip #1: Old Ladies push you around. Literally. Do not feel bad about pushing back. In a city of 25million, real estate, whether it be an apartment or a piece of sidewalk is valuable. If you're in someone's way they will push you with no apology or acknowledgement. This is normal here.

China Tip #2: It's okay to wear your backpack on your front, in fact it's recommended, particularly in crowded areas. This makes pickpocketing harder. Also, don't stash things in your back pockets.

After lunch we continued our little city tour by walking down Nanjing Road to The Bund where we got our first real view of the Pearl. The architecture along this route was nothing short of impressive. The stores were everything from Forever21, to Burberry, to Banana Republic, to the First Food Market (a large market with everything from oranges to pig-heads on a stick). When we arrived at the Bund we became the entertainment to the locals. Many of them stood by taking our pictures or video (they weren't very covert about it) and some even asked to take pictures with us. When our guide took our group picture we had a handful of locals come to stand next to her to get their own picture of our large expat group.

We continued on to the Adult learning center, somewhere off of Nanjing Road... (This is where I started losing track of where we were.) We had the chance to refill our water bottles (DON'T DRINK THE TAP WATER!) and enjoy the Air-Con while we had a presentation on apartment hunting in Shanghai. We were then released to do what we pleased with our afternoon. Exhausted, sweaty, and exhausted, a large number of us decided to head to the hotel for a shower and a rest before dinner. We made our way back to the metro, got on the metro, then got off the metro successfully.

...About an hour and a half later we figured out how to get from the correct metro station back to the hotel (this is that whole bit about the 4-North exit...Tip: Head towards Exit 6, then divert to Exit 4 after the trek through the looooooooooong tunnel that goes under the station.) Walking around Shanghai is a bit like one continuous game of frogger. Between the cars, buses, trucks, and scooters that tend to drive wherever they please, it can be a bit hectic. Drivers are also not shy about using their horns. Though, on many occasions this has benefited us as it alerts us to their coming up behind us. There are lines on the road, though they seem to serve more as suggestions as to the directional flow of traffic, and not necessarily the "stay in between the lines" sort of organization we are used to. People drive the way they walk, they will shove you out of the way and cut you off. If there is an accident, the drivers make sure everyone is okay, then without exchanging info, say, "Nice to meet you, okay, bye" get back in their cars and drive off.

Showers are wonderful things. Many of us are strategizing how we might afford to take multiple showers a day once we are paying for water. (5 minutes in the morning, 2 minutes in the afternoon and 3 in the evening?) The humidity is killer when you're not acclimated to it. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Post shower, I took some ibuprofen for the killer heat and sleep-deprived headache banging in my temples and fell into the best hour and a half's sleep I had since my arrival. I woke a bit before 8 and met folks downstairs to voyage out in search of dinner. We headed back to People's Square and Nanjing Road and found an open air restaurant called Chez l'Ami. A very westernized retaurant with westernized prices. But being a bit of a celebratory dinner, we didn't mind. We survived Day 1! We impressed our waiter with our beer drinking abilities (Stella Artois was the featured beer on tap), enjoyed some communal plates of fries (or to the English gent with us, "chips"), chicken strips, and a rather decorative fruit platter. A simple, light meal after a long, hot day.

After dinner we made our way back to the hotel (only briefly getting lost this time). Along the way we overheard the dulcet tones of the english language coming from someone not in our group. We quickly made a friend with another expat and her Chinese friend (she spoke Mandarin AND English! A rare and valuable breed!) Making it back to the station just in time to grab the last train for the night (11pm!) we turned more heads with our uniquely foreign looks.

Took one last rinse off in the shower, then fell into bed to the sounds of Kevin Spacey in some Irish fishing movie. (At any given time there is only one English bit of entertainment on the TV, so likely you and all your English speaking friends are watching the same thing.... something to bond over, I guess.