{Explorations}

Yesterday was a rough day. It's funny, because they keep reminding us about the stages of culture shock ( as if I didn't get it the first five times), but yesterday I think was more an issue of isolation. I had a headache, was in no mood to be social, and so I tried to catch up on sleep, which resulted in my keeping odd hours, and NOTHING to do, while being secluded in my room. The withdrawl from social networking hit me hard. I felt severed, cut off, and unable to connect with the familiar. It wasn't the end of the world, by no means depression, but I did feel very lonely.

Today I forced myself to get up and out, and with a little luck ran into a few others from my group at breakfast. We got acquainted with a girl who got here a week earlier, but did the Disney summer program here so she knew her way around a little bit better than we did. So, today was a pure exercise in exploration, forced socialization, and a little dose of the familiar.

Today I got my first taste of the metro system here. It's actually pretty organized and fairly easy to use, compared to some other city metros I've used. We'll have to use it to get to work every day so I was glad to get this chance to learn instead of tomorrow morning during rush hour traffic.

We mostly wandered around different parts of the city getting familiar with where to go for different things, and stopped for lunch. I had some amazing sechuan noodles, watermellon juice ( their juice here is fantastic, glad to know one of my vices can be supported!) and some sort of chicken based broth soup. While it's by no means the same as americanized chinese food here, the food IS delicious, and I have no complaints... Jeff... we'll see about him. He's certainly going to have to learn to be a bit more adventurous. I have a feeling you'll be seeing some guest posts from him in the future letting you know.

I'm still struggling to get pictures. I think that once I'm sure of where I'm going and not so concerned about point a to point b, I'll be able to slow down and focus on capturing things. Still, I managed to snap a whole two pictures today, so I thought I'd share them with you:

 

 

 

So, I took this picture mostly because I knew Jeff , if not Jason as well would get a kick out of it. Jeff's been bugging me ( mostly in jest, I hope) about shipping a hotdog cart and starting his own business here. Apparently there IS a market for here, sweetheart! ( It's still a no. )

I just thought these were cute. The bakeries are interesting here. There's a LOT of american food places here too, if you're willing to shell out the money for it. So far, I've been ok, but I and one of the guys stopped by a coldstone on the way back home. Mango sorbet always makes the world right and shiny again.

And that's my day! I tried to find church this morning... but didn't quite make it. That's on the to-do list next weekend.

Have a good one!

-Ashley

Comments

[Rob Langdorf]

I forgot to remind you...I know folks in Shanghai. Say the word and I'll put you in contact with the right folks!

[Ashley McLemore]

For church? Absolutely, that would be tons of help!

[Joy Peters]

Wow the bread was cute!!!! I feel lonely in this big old city without you :( I can't get motivate to work....but I'm glad that you got motivated to get out when you were feeling gloomy.