Shanghai Shenanigans

 On the first night we went to a well-known international chain called Din Tai Fung. I actually tried this a few weeks ago in L.A. with Danny and his sister and was immediately hooked. Way stoked to find out there was one in Shanghai! (But what isn't in Shanghai, really?? This place is MASSIVE)
Here are some pictures from that night and other nights in Shanghai. From this post you'd think all we did was goof around all week! Well, we did, but we also learned a bit about teaching English too, in 7-10 hrs worth of classes each day. Without that training, I think I would have been at such a loss when I got here, so I'm grateful that all of my visa stuff worked out for me to get here in time for that!

great new friends at orientation!! 

<3  <3  <3 dumplings <3  <3 <3

 Mao n' Me

 Awesome giant cello!

 Mom and her pup in front of our hotel

So just to fill all of you in, I have a 10-month contract working at Yichang Jin Dong Fang Highschool in Yichang, Hubei Province. This area is beautiful. The Yangtze River runs right past the city, the mountains look over at us from the other side, and the greenery is overflowing. And I get to see all of this from my office window!

...but before I get too much into that, I will give you guys a little brief on what I've been up to since I got to China!I arrived in Shanghai a little over a week and a half ago. We had a 5-day long orientation with about 60 others like us who are teaching English in China through an agency called Ameson. Ameson recruited about 300 recent grads from around the US and placed them in cities all up and down the eastern side of China. I feel really fortunate to have been placed further inland in this smaller city. There is only a handful of expats (foreigners) in this place so I feel like I am really getting a true taste of China this year. I am even more fortunate to share this rare status with a lovely girl named Lindsey Pointer, another Ameson teacher like me. She hails from Colorado and  let me just say we’re a pretty dang good fit. To the extent that no one at orientation believed us when we told them we weren’t friends before.

At the orientation, we took classes during the day then in the evenings groups of us wove through the streets and subways of Shanghai to explore and eat delicious food and drink bottomless free margaritas on  Girls Night at the city’s most hoppin expat bar, Zapatos. 

 Ladies Night at the infamous Zapatas expat bar

 awesome new friends :) 

 sleaze

We danced on the bar!