In the last couple days, I have successfully:

-Stepped in a giant pile of crap while playing frisbee.
-Slipped and hit my head. I still have a nice bruise on my elbow and my neck is a little sore. =(

The last few days have been a bit busy. The internet at the hotel is a bit slow sometimes, so I haven't really had a chance to update. It's been rainy and cloudy, too. I was really enjoying the 60 degree weather!

We had an orientation day at our school yesterday. We went over the New Beat base school and learned about the New Beat philosophy and instruction materials. However, I won't be teaching there, but unlike most the other teachers, I will have the same class of students every day of the week. Past that, I really can't tell you much more, because I won't find out until tomorrow. My first class is on Monday.

What I do know: Class size is between 20-30. Class time length is between 30-40 minutes. There are four levels of students: Beginners (2.5-3 yrs old), Juniors (4 yrs), Intermediate (5 yrs), and Senior (6 yrs). There is a greeting song sang every day and every unit has a new song and dance.

Anyway, we also had an excursion to Shanghai Cultural Center to learn to make dumplings. Unfortunately, we went right after lunch, so none of us were very hungry.  Later that night, we went to an acrobatic show on Wednesday. It was alright. The one I saw in Beijing was a ton better than this one. The show used no safety lines (except in one act when the two acrobats were flying over the audience) and was a little rickety. One of the more interesting acts involved a giant cage-sphere with five motorcyclists performing tricks. Why anyone would want to be driving in a small sphere on motorcycles is beyond me. Crazy Acrobats. Sorry I don't have many pictures/videos from the show—my camera was not fond of the dark room and fast moving acrobats.

Another excursion we had was to the Shanghai Museum and the Old Shanghai Quarter. The Shanghai Museum was... a museum. Lots of Tang pottery... Coins... etc. Lots of fun history, but exploring it took a lot less time than we were given. The Old Shanghai Quarter was fun. Because the Lantern Festival is tomorrow, everything was decorated. The Lantern Festival is celebrated fifteen days after the lunar new year. I didn't buy anything, despite the many, tempting, cheap items at the shops—we just walked around and took pictures.

  Yesterday, I arrived in Shanghai around 11 AM. The flight from O'Hare to Incheon/Seoul Int'l Airport was definitely nothing to complain about. Not only did I have an aisle seat, Cary and I also had a whole row (three seats) to ourselves. I was able to lay down and actually sleep for a while. Also, the stewards/stewardesses put on a magic show towards the end of our flight. How cool is that!

There were several more future teachers waiting at the airport. (There were five of us on the flight from Incheon to Pudong.) After a very lengthy wait for money exchange (infuriatingly slow moving line!), we piled into a bus and headed to our hotel—the faculty club at Shanghai Jiaotong University. CIEE had a small bag waiting for us (containing maps, handbook, phonecard, etc—so excited!). Weather here is gorgeous. Everyone here is still wearing winter coats, but it is around 60 degrees out side.

The group of us (only half the size that is now here) headed out to find some dinner. We actually ended up at a Korean BBQ restaurant, which we didn't realize until after we ordered food. It was good, but way too much work. After traveling for over 24 hours, I really didn't want to pay to cook my own food.

Orientation officially started on Tuesday. We had Survival Chinese lessons in the morning, lunch, and then we went to the Shanghai Zoo to see the pandas Because of the World Expo (beginning this May and lasting until Oct. 1st), pandas were shipped into Shanghai area Zoo for tourists and businesspeople to see. They were adorable. Absolutely adorable. However, there were quite a few other amusing (or disgusting) animals at the zoo. We saw:

1. A gorilla eating its own poop. Promptly after licking its own feces off of the floor, it walked right up to me, stared me in the eye, and mooned me. Thanks Mr. Gorilla...
2. A brown bear first was pacing and peeing and decided to stand up, give us a show, and rub its back on the wall.
3. One of the pandas decided to take a bath. I hope I can post the video for it. He was having quite a good time.
4. Oh, yeah, One of the chimps really liked showing us his butt. Really,

We had a Sichuan dinner and was able to watch a face changing performance. (Sichuan food is very spicy and uses this numbing spice in some foods.) The Face changing performance was fun. It was completely different than what I had thought it would be.

Hey everyone!  This is my first official weebly blog post. When I have time, I will make it all pretty and stuff.   Hopefully weebly will work while I am in Shanghai, but if it suddenly does not work, I will contact everyone via e-mail with updates.    Please comment or e-mail me as much as you desire.  There is no such thing as too much!
Most everything is packed- just a few straggler items.  It was a complete disaster zone for quite a while yesterday. 
Tonight, we leave for O'hare. Fortunately, the flight leaves at 1 AM, so the airport will be empty and easy to get through.  Hopefully, I will be able to sleep a little on the plane.  My next post will be from Shanghai!