Homestay pictures

Morning exercises in the park
Learning how to make pork dumplings
intestines, hearts, and tongues.. mmm...

Friendly park security guards
The "delicious" chicken feet

Chinese "Homestay"

As part of the IES curriculum, I was required to stay the night in a Chinese family's home. I was fortunate enough to be placed in my Chinese history teacher's house. The goal of the homestay is to experience what it is like to live a day in the life of the Shanghainese. We met up with our teacher and his son late afternoon and went to a restaurant where they ordered the food for us. I found out that the Chinese, similar to Americans, have a tendency to eat early around 5 or 6pm. I had the pleasure of eating chicken feet, pig feet, salted pork in vegetables, and a variety of other dishes that I didn't dare ask what they were. After this "delicious" feast of ours, our hosts brought us to get massages in a hair salon. Apparently any hair salon gives massages. It only cost us about $1.50 for 1/2hr massage. The next morning after a 7am wake up, we went to a park to practice tai chi morning exercises, fly kites (which is very competitive in Shanghai) and even ride a couple roller-coasters. Afterwards, we returned to their house and learned how to make and cook pork dumplings. I really enjoyed being able to experience the Chinese family culture that I have read about in classes for a few months now. In 15 days, I will be returning home to Villanova. I cant believe how fast it has all gone, but I am definitely ready to be home with my friends, family, and the comfortable American culture that I am used to. 

Pictures from the Chinese homestay to come...

Taiwan - pictures

Taipei National Museum
Hualien mountains
Hualien Temple: memorial/shrine for the dead
View of Taipei from our host university
View from Taipei 101: The tallest building in the World

Taipei 101

Taiwan

This Saturday, I along with the rest of my abroad program returned from a week long trip in Taipei, Taiwan. I expected to be spending a week in an island with similar living styles to what I am used to in Shanghai. My expectations were wrong. Taipei, a city of 2 million people (1/10th the size of Shanghai), made me feel like I was back in the Western Hemisphere. It was strange actually having to abide by traffic rules and crosswalks, having forks and knives at most meals, and having people around me that, for the most part, all spoke English. Every day we had a different lecture on Taiwanese culture, religion, finance, and got to go on several very interesting tours around Taipei. We even got to take a tour of the Legislative Yuan and meet with representatives of the two main governing parties in Taiwan (KMT and DPP). We took a trip to Hualien, a county on the East coast of Taiwan, where we were able to see the pacific ocean, beaches, and Taiwanese aboriginal lifestyle. We even got the chance to experience the famous Taiwanese night markets in Taipei which is, as the name implies, a night market filled with cheap clothes, toys, and famous Taiwanese snacks such as "stinky tofu" (thats actually its name). Wonderful trip all around. Pictures to come.

Shanghai Clark CPAs

After 8 weeks of courses that heavily focus on the contrast between Eastern and Western culture and the impact of different cultural values on international business, I thought it would be highly beneficial to see the Chinese business environment firsthand. I was put in contact in Early October with the company Shanghai Clark CPAs, and have started working directly for a Clark employee, Yao Lei. She has been outsourced to a UK based Pest Control company named Rentokil that has four branches in China, including Beijing, Hunan, Hubei, and of course, Shanghai. It has been very difficult to communicate with the employees considering that most of them do not speak english or are too embarassed to. I have spent most of my time correcting their documents that have been translated into English, and it can definitely get teitious, but I am still grateful for their willingness to let me work their for a few months. The hierarchical structure of Chinese business is very interesting compared to the American tendency for an Egalitarian environment. The Chinese, from what I have gathered at least, rarely interact in a "friend-to-friend" manner with their boss. They say that language structure and formality shows social status, and speaking informally does not show a sign of sincerity or friendliness yet disrespect. Certain interactions, such as exchanging business cards, are given much more emphasis in Eastern business situations. The card is given with a slight bow, and the height at which the card is handed to the person signifies the position in the company of the individual receiving the card (the higher the card, the higher the rank of the person receiving). Fortunately, not only am I working on my "conversational Chinese" on a daily basis in class, but now I am practicing my "business Chinese". Maybe that's similar to learning "Wall Street English"?

          Wen Quan - Friendly locals

Buddhist prayer flag mountain - Wen Quan

北山寺， 西宁 Beishan Temple, Xining

    Wen Quan (Hot Springs)

Wen Quan - Herding sheep across a river

National Holiday

What a crazy trip that was... As I expected, I definitely experienced things that I never have before in my life. For example, our trip consisted of a 32hr. train ride there, and a 38hr train ride back (longer than what we expected). The national pride was insane. Every person had some sort of China flag hanging from their bags, pants, anything! When we arrived in Lanzhou, it hit me how much our group was going to stick out this far into China. They rarely see Westerners, and would frequently walk up to us and touch our faces, ask us questions about where we were from, and just crowd around us giggling. The farther West we went, the more Tibetans we saw and the more looks we received. We climbed mountains, explored Taoist temples, and even at one point herded sheep with Tibetans across a river. Our hostels were always very poor, and we only got the chance to shower twice the entire trip. Our beds usually consisted of a wood plank with a sheet over it. I am so happy I got to experience such a trip, but it feels good to be back in Shanghai where bathrooms are more than holes in the ground outside. It is hard to truly describe what we did because it was all so out of the ordinary, so I'll let the pictures do the talking for me... More to come!