Perky Stuff About Shanghai/China:
-A lot of girls really DO like to "tilda" everything they type~~ (sometimes twice~~)
-Foreigners teaching English here are REALLY well rewarded. I think everyone should come be a teacher for a bit, earn some money, visit China, and earn some good resume experience. A lot of places provide you furnished room and board, compensate your plane ticket, and provide you bonuses for completing the contract.

A Note on Supermarkets in Shanghai

What I Dislike About These Supermarkets
-You have to pay for grocery bags.... Or you can always bring your own.
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What I Love About These Supermarkets
-There are all these pretty cute/hot ladies working there, either for free samples (mostly yogurt) or in the health products section. :D
-They have some of the craziest things for sale! You know those chicken feet for dim sum? They sell it in snack packs!
-They're so big that they have many different levels!
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...Crud, I don't remember anymore.

Some Interesting Stuff I've Heard/Picked Up Around Shanghai

You know how they say "a picture's worth a thousand words?" Well, this one sure has its own story to tell. Ok, maybe not, my parents had to tell me the story. If they didn't, I'd have never expected this to be so interesting.


Anything special about this picture? Not really, except the lady's kind of hot ;P.

Anyhow, that's not the point. The statues look ordinary and not particularly special or anything, you'd never expect this to be the victim of theft.

That's right, kiddies, theft. Apparently, the boy or a different, 3rd statue used to hold a cellphone in hand. Up until someone decided they'd like to add a bronze cellphone to their own twisted collection, so they chipped it off the statue. I guess the statue was replaced with a tennis racket instead.

Still Not Enough

It's been a bit over 2 weeks since I moved to Shanghai, and though I must say I've been a little bit more active in learning Chinese and looking for a job, it really still isn't enough. The more I look into a job, the more I see how seemingly futile and pointless it is to find anything in the sea of candidates and positions. It really drives a sense of despair that is making me question whether there is anymore point to searching for a job. My hopes of being fluent in English does not have as much value here as I hoped it would. Searching through jobs has made me wonder if I should just take whatever positions I can find or actually look for something I want to do. Even with potential feedback, interviews must still be conquered through to have any chance of getting a job. I have not even received any hint of reply back from anyone since I started applying (except from that one scam).

But I guess this is the crucial point that separates the winners from the losers, the doers from the quitters. Will I have enough strength to keep going, to persist through this task that seems to bear no fruit? Just got to redouble my efforts and hope something comes out of all this. Got to do everything with more frequency and intensity: study Chinese, study Economics, study Shanghai, study China, study how the real life workplace works, research industries, and all that good stuff.

Ok, better stop goofing off and get back to studying Chinese right now.

Random Thoughts

-I was pretty surprised that a lot of people here have 3-character names. I used to think everyone in China miraculously only had 2-character names, as in 1 character for a surname, and 1 for their name.

-Also, I was surprised that a lot of Chinese people here don't have a really hard to understand accent. I thought everyone spoke with a heavy, "curled-tongue" accent. Was I wrong!

-I didn't find the po-jay-chou chips in the supermarket near my house, but I DID find Jay Chou drinks! Hahaha, it never stops. Also, the store was having a Jay Chou marathon since it only played Jay Chou songs.

-Chinese people are such craaaazy drivers that even shopping carts are 4-wheel drive! ;]