blocks

Man. I'm finding life slightly more challenging here for two main reasons: I don't have a cell phone with a calculator (funny how much I miss that...), and wikipedia is not allowed. I feel less intelligent without these two handy little things, but then again, I shouldn't be calling myself intelligent if I rely on things like wikipedia.

Some other websites that are blocked: myspace (sorry, sis), the BBC news (is this the only news agency that reports news truthfully or something?), and google of course has a massive filter.

There is one aspect of daily life that is NOT as blocked as I would have thought it would be: ADVERTISING. Wow! China is SEXY! There are underwear models everywhere, scantily dressed women, and innuendo galore. Whether it be on the television or on the subway, the advertising industry is basically on the same level as, gasp, America!

It is also interesting to see how often WHITE models are used--it's quite startling to me, actually. Do we in America have many advertisements that have nonwhite models, etc? Perhaps... but it feels funny here. Especially because on the television, they have programs that teach the listener how to speak English. The last one was a post office scenario ("Repeat after me: I want to send an international letter.")


I also wanted to make a comment about the peddlers here in Shanghai. Wow- aggressive. today I went to the bank and got approached by two people outside the bank who said, "Don't go in there, I can give you money." This is in English, actually. But the most funny encounter with a salesperson was at the Bund in downtown Shanghai. This is a very famous place in Shanghai architecturally so there are lots of tourists. So, of course, lots of salespeople. And I guess the things they sell change by month, and this past Saturday they were CRAZY about getting us to buy shoe-slip-ons that had wheels. Of course I had no need for this, but one salesman grabbed my upper arm and shook it. Hard. But in a friendly way somehow. He was wailing, "先生！！” "Sir!!" It was really hilarious. Both he and I were laughing. I unfortunately still let him down and have no roller-slip on shoes to speak of.


This is a picture of me at the Bund. You can see the famous Pearl of the East TV Tower (东方明珠电视塔, Dongfang Mingzhu Dianshi Ta) in the background there. We went to the top of it to gaze over Shanghai. It was like the Washington Monument expect much, much grander.