back again

It is now noon time in Shanghai, and the sun is hot. It beats down on broken stone sidewalks and the tanned faces of country side Chinese who will never make more than enough money to survive. The sidewalks have yet to be littered with slop and refuse, the garbage that gives the humid night a sickly sweet smell in and around the groceries and food stands. I sit in my air conditioned room on my laptop wrongly thinking I am living like a real Chinese.

With that said, I am living like a Chinese compared to last semester. Every day it is seven flights of stairs in 35 degree (Celcius, about 95 F) humid weather. Last night my roommate, Skating and i went shopping at the supermarket about a block away and I saw a big rat scurry right in front of my flip flopped feet. I share a bathroom in a two bedroom apartment with three Chinese girls, and there is no living room. A shower always leads to water coating the floor, and there are water footprints mixed with dirt on the floors a lot of the time. There was no hand soap anywhere when I arrived. Just like the beginning of last semester, this is going to take a couple of weeks to get used to.

Right now, I am eating less and less. I am actually afraid to go out by myself for food because reticence has really taken a hold of me. I spent the last four days with my girlfriend, and said goodbye to her at the airport. I am in love with her but yesterday morning could be the last time I see her. In any case, this is all a good challenge for me. As long as I can stay focused on my one clear goal, learning Chinese, everything else can stay murky and gray.

School hasn't started yet, but it certainly feels strange walking around the campus, Tao Li Yuan, and passing by Lian Xing Lou knowing so many friends have gone. Aside from friends, familiar faces have left and returned to their home countries. Coupled with my change of address, Jiao Tong has all but lost it's feeling of home. There will be no room 613, G and Sol's place of refuge and snacks. Charlesy and his crew of misfits have all gone, no longer relaxing their hangovers away under the umbrellas of the coffee shop. While I was home in D.C., I missed this place like a home but I seemed to have forgotten that everything was already changing before I left Shanghai on vacation. Ah, now it's 1 o clock and I have gotten nothing productive done today. Time to venture out into China, I reckon.