Day 4 and 5

  Had a busy two days and will try to fill you in on everything.  First, internet access is intermittent, and when I get it, it is so slow.  It may take me 20-30 minutes to upload three pictures to this blog.  So you can imagine how long it is taking me.

One night I went out with my new friend Jay Zhou, who I met in toastmasters.  He took me to a restaurant and helped me order dinner.  Then he took me shopping to buy a cell phone.  Everyone in China has one and it is necessary to be able to communicate with each other.  We went comparison shopping, in 4 stores, and finally bought one from the China Mobile location in the RT Mart, a big store like a Walmart.  He did a great job at negotiating a good price, and when you buy a phone here, you must also get a sim card from the telcom vendor.  Not all stores sell the phone with the card.  He then signed me up for a plan at 3 yuan a month that gives me limited number of minutes, free incoming calls, and not expensive outgoing calls.  A yuan is equal to about 16 cents.  He is a graduate student in engineering here at Shanghai University, and later that evening he took me to his lab and showed me the motors he is working on, his work is on motor controls.  Then his professor came and he introduced me to him.  Everyone was so nice and friendly.  You can see the photo of him and his motors.

Next you have two more pictures in Zhabei Park.  I won't show anymore pictures in the park. This is Wednesday morning and you will see a group exercising with flags.  Next is a group of women who are in the park singing every morning.

On Wednesday I went downtown, walked along the Bund, saw the famous skyline.  This Saturday our class has a tour of Shanghai and we will see this again, including a trip to the top of Pearl Tower, the impressive radio tower in Pudong.

Later in the afternoon I went to a ping pong group on campus.  They were also very nice and invited me to play with them.  They were all older, and I think it was because I was also a "senior."  It turns out one of the players is also my speaking partner, Professor Xi Jiu, who is also the retired Dean of the College of International Programs.

This afternoon our group was invited to be the TV audience for one of China's most popular TV programs, China has Talent.  So we are leaving at 12:00 for the TV studio.  It will be on the air in about two weeks.

Graduate student Jay Zhou with his motors.  He is working on motor controls.

An exercise class, early morning, in Zhabei Park



Group of women singing in the park.  They are there every morning.

 

Walking along the Bund, this is the interior of the Pudong Development Bank Building



The above two pictures are the skyline of Pudong.   Pudong is the newly developed eastern side of Shanghai, and I took this photo from the Bund in Puxi, the western side of Shanghai, the two sides being separated by the Huangpu River.

The walkway along the river is above and behind this wall of flowers.  You can also see the skyline of Pudong from this lower level.

This is Najing Dong Lu, across from Peoples Square, with statue of couple with small child and balloons.