Made it!

Thunder!! I finally made it to Shanghai. Was welcomed by rain, clouds, a thunderstorm and humidity- have yet to see the sun! Monday we start training which I heard is a bit overwhelming, but I have met a few other co-workers and they are all extremely welcoming and said not to worry too much about it.

Shanghai itself is a crazy city! So many people, cars, horns, bikes and mopeds. There's definitely always something going on. I have only had one person get in my face to take a picture. This is not what the others here have experienced however. Apparently they were suckered into taking pictures with gobs of people for 15 minutes. yikes.

There are so many influences from other countries and this makes it very unique. It's... EuroAsian I guess. The people that are here are all very nice and interested in Americans and the English language. I surprisingly am already acclimated to not understanding anything that's going on around me- you never realize how much eavesdropping you do un-knowingly.

On the way out to dinner last night we went through the French Concession which is a very European influenced area. The streets are tree-lines and there are many art studios and small coffee shops/ cafes. So much pretty!

I have gone out to eat at a Chinese restaurant two nights now. The first was with work and the food was great! I love the eating style, they don't rush at all and being a slow eater, it's even better. Last night, I went to eat with some girls I have met through training and we experienced hot pot. It's very interesting- delicious though of course. You order different meats and veggies, make a sauce at the counter which has all different spices, peanut, sesame, etc sauce, herbs- mix it all up in a little bowl. Then the server brings out boiling broth (spicy or not) and you add the meat to the broth to cook it and dip it in the sauce. So good and it took forever to eat because there was so much!

However, I am already missing fresh produce terribly...