Where China involves a lot of walking...

Another week means I've accomplished the mission of not getting myself into any big trouble. Work has involved lots of training- as I've been moved through the different areas, I've been doing full shifts fingerprinting on the line. Tag team interviewing is very helpful as a crutch since an experienced officer sits behind me the whole time and is there in case I forget important words...like all of them.

Well I haven't really quit...yet.

Alsthough the pressure of the job is high (or maybe I'm just insecure), I feel very inspired being here. As I looked around during one of our all-hands meeting with section heads and our consul general, it's still hard to believe I am actually an FSO, a diplomat, a representative of the U.S.

SO COOL

Our section is housed in a very public space (as public as you can imagine) so it is weird having to walk through applicants and the public while getting in and out of work. However, it also means there's a lot of access to food both inside the building and around. I've had a lot of fun with looking for new places to eat. The food court prices average about 30-35 kuai (CNY or RMB) while restaurants can be a little more. When we eat out with coworkers, a split meal costs about 40-100 CNY a person. However, a side street behind the building also has food vendors serving street spicy noodles (7CNY) or green onion pancakes (2CNY).

I have also been trying new drink places. Happy Lemon is a huge chain here, with cheap prices and a collection of "fresh lemon" ingredient drinks. I'm afraid of citrus so I didn't try any of the famous lemon beverages, I'll admit. The milk tea was ...mediocre. Yi Dian Dian is still the best milk tea here so far.

10 CNY

Three of us also enjoyed a bit of American comedy with an international social networking group called Internations. I haven't really gotten involved in any social groups outside of work, but it seems like a good idea for people who want to meet non-colleague friends.

Kungfu Comedy is a local comedy club that invites local as well as international comedians. The headliner for our night was from Texas, Mr. Sheng Wang, who also appeared on Jimmy Fallon before.

This week had a few more rainy days and I've ordered a pair of rainboots on Amazon, which will hopefully arrive via DPO soon. Since I don't (and won't) be getting my "red card", the diplomatic ID I carry around as identification for a while due to the visa delay when I arrived, I can't get access to my HHE and UAB shipments for a while. My life packed into 2 suitcases wasn't a lot of clothes or necessities and I only have a few outfits to wear. The seasons are changing though and I've had a lot of people telling me to get a coat. This Saturday, we went to the Fabric Market in South Bund and looked at three floors of cloth, samples, scarves, and lots more. I'll post some more pictures next time I go in for my fittings- I am splurging on a cashmere coat as well as a nice dress for the Marine Ball in November.

Sadly, leaving is a great part of our lifestyle as well. Three officers have left and another will leave next week after the National Week holiday. To celebrate, we had dinner at a Szechuan restaurant tonight, a nice night of friends, food, and alas, farewell.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to get involved with some of the volunteer groups here. Last weekend, I met up with BEAN, an American expat founded voluteer group that works with senior homes, orphanages, cleft palate kids, and homeless shelters. The seniors there had a lot of fun with us and we played Jenga (a terrible game to play with old people with shaky hands), had one teach us how to dance the rumba, and then played lots of mahjong, a table game I learned my second weekend at post. According to the coworker that taught me, "you're not really doing Chinese right unless you know how to play mahjong."

Mahjong is srs bzness here.

Malls are also serious business here. Malls and malls and malls, filled with imported brands, high end brands, and very often the same stores in malls that are right next to each other (something else I can't understand. How many Louis Vuitton stores does one street actually need?) The irony is a lot of the super luxury stores don't actually seem to have much foot traffic, with more people headed to stores like Old Navy, UNIQLO, H&M, Levi. Me? I'm much more into the food courts and othe random scenes. 

China Mickey D deals

The luggage brand that's meant for me.

Pandas are so common, they're even in the shape of bread at bakeries. 

More of my money in the form of stuffed animals won out of claw machines :x

My gift from Jae, where I vicariously hang out with the electronic version of my friends...*tear

Hello smoggy China

 The wonderful magic of China aside, I miss my puppy so much. My parents and Coffee have been sending me pictures of her life in the U.S. And of course since my family can't be normal, these are the pictures I get.