These are just some of my favorite photos arranged in no particular order. Many of my photos in the first semester were from some of Shanghai's more touristy and more famous areas, like Pudong or Thames Town. That doesn't bother me too much, sometimes places are famous for a reason. Still, I do have some great photos from the less famous places, like the subway stop photo. To be honest though, I think the picture of East China Normal's Mao statue overlooking the Global Harbor Mall is the best photo I took all year.
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Usually pot noodles in China aren't spicy and all use the same Top Ramen/Manchurian style instant noodles. All except for these spicy oil noodles I bought at TESCO on a whim. They not only use a longer, thicker style of instant noodle but it was actually quite spicy. It seems like the company was trying to emulate biangbiang mian, a type of long spicy "belt like" noodles popular in Xi'an and the rest of Shaanxi Province. Overall they weren't bad, they did cost a whole 2RMB more than my usual noodles, but 2RMB is only a few cents so it is no big deal.
As some of you may know, I am a big fan of pirates. I mean, I rooted for the pirates in Captain Philips, I drink rum, and I dressed up as a pirate for Halloween my sophomore year at Juniata. So when I was at TESCO and saw a pirate themed baijiu I know I had to try it. The first think that stood out to me was that the image clearly showed that Western style pirates are the pirates the "piracy" in Piracys is referring too. While China does have its own traditions of pirates and sea bandits that are very interesting, but none of those pirates ever hoisted the jolly roger. The next thing that really stood out was the fact that the name doesn't make sense, piracy can't be pluralized like how the name shows it. I guess the makers were trying to appeal to a Chinese audience who might know proper English grammar, particularly around pluralization since pluralization doesn't exist in Chinese. Next is the fact that there is very little connection between the classic pirates of the Caribbean and beijiu. I am a bit confused as to why this product even exists. I guess it might be an effort from the company, Beijing Zhongmeishengye Biological Technology CO. LTD. to market what is usually seen as an old man's drink to young people since it was cheap (4RMB for the bottle), very alcoholic (53% alcohol by volume according to the bottle), has English writing on it (a popular marketing tool for Chinese companies trying to look quality), and refers to cool Western stuff (pirates). I guess they might also get some novelty sales from weird foreigners who are wondering what Piracys Beijiu can possibly taste like, but with the relatively small numbers of foreigners in China I can't see that being a big part of their business. The two big questions are still, how does it taste and would I buy it again? It tastes like beijiu, though, unlike some beijius, it don't have as strong of an alcohol taste as you would think a beverage that is actually half alcohol would have. I also don't know if I would buy it again, since a significantly larger of beijiu that tastes pretty much the same costs only 10-15RMB, though it won't have any connection to pirates. I guess it is a fun novelty but I don't think I feel the need to buy it again. Today is Pi Day (3/14) so I tried to buy some pie at Global Harbor. I am not happy to report I could not find any pie, so I got a blueberry danish, a circle of life, and a brandy & mango from BreadTalk and called those close enough. They are all good I guess but not pie. Next year there will be pie, this year I wait.
Usually when people in Shanghai talk to me about "football" they are actually referring to Soccer, aka football almost everywhere on Earth except the United States and now the Global Harbor Mall in Shanghai. For some reason, Great Stone Gridiron will train your young Chinese son how to play real American football. They also spent a good deal of money on advertising, Global Harbor is covered in ads for American football training. I haven't seen very many people in China actually playing American football but apparently someone must. I think it might be a way for Chinese parents to help get their sons into American universities and colleges with low ranking football programs but high ranking academic programs.
Juniata’s Vice President for Recruitment, Rob Yelnosky, and two people from recruitment, Ran and Yanping, were all in China to recruit some Chinese students and to do alumni events. Since they happened to be passing through Shanghai last Saturday, they decided to stop by, tour the East China Normal, and take the two Juniata students including myself out for dinner. ECNU has a very easy campus to show off, the ECNU staff will usually introduce the University by saying it is “national project 211 and 985 university and also a garden university;” basically ECNU has good academics and looks pretty. After checking out the Physics Building, the main canteen, the Mao Statue, and the sports field we all went to dinner at Global Harbor. Unfortunately, the first restaurant we tried to get into had a minimum one hour wait, so we went to the Hong Kongese place in the basement that I know is good (I believe pictures form the second restaurant was the first or second post I made form Global Harbor). I am pleased to report that the second restaurant has stayed good. We got a variety of dishes, including a brisket curry dish I tried in Hong Kong with my Mom that was quite interesting. After dinner, we all waked back to campus and took a photo with ECNU’s main gate; Rob, Ran, and Yanping went back to their hotel to prepare for an early flight back to the US on Sunday while my friend and I returned to our dorms. Even several thousand miles away from Juniata College, it is nice to know I am not completely on my own.
A friend of mine from last semester went to Yang's Dumplings in the Global Harbor Mall for some lunch. While Yang's dumplings weren't super dumpling like, they were more xiaolongbao or baozi like, they were still excellent and, for the low price of 19RMB with water, super affordable. I got the basic "Yang's dumplings" and the shepherd's dumplings, my friend got the vegetable dumplings and all were good and tasted quite different. It is important to remember to get some napkins before eating, since, from experance, the hot soupy dumpling liquid goes everywhere. I am not sure why I haven't been to Yang's Dumplings yet, I am also not sure why I haven't tried to get an endorsement deal from Global Harbor considering how many nice things I have posted about them here.
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AuthorI am a junior at Juniata College spending a year studying abroad at East China Normal University. Please feel free to join my on my journey to China and beyond. Archives
November 2021
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