a weekend of shopping and exploring!

This weekend was a lot of fun! Friday night I went out to dinner with 10 other teachers to a Muslim restaurant up the street from our school. We ordered about 15 or so dishes (most of which I really enjoyed) that ended up being way too much food but only $10/person! A few of the teachers that taught here last year were with us too, so it was really awesome to hear everything they had to say about the ends and outs of living and traveling in China! They offered some great advice on how to get around, must see places, and even were to find snacks from the US.

Saturday a big group of us went to explore Tainkang Lu. which if you've ever been to Greece, reminded me a lot of the Plaka area. It was filled with tons of great souvenir shops, cashmere and silk shops, photography and art galleries, restaurants, and plenty of spots to take scenic pictures of old Shanghai! Later that afternoon I ventured out to downtown Shanghai to go to one of the many amazing malls called, Cloud 9. Like the other mall I went to last week for our Banquet, this one us just as huge and amazing (9 floors high with literally hundreds of stores, and restaurants.) I'm not sure if I'm ever going to get used to shopping in places like this!

Sunday morning, I was able to finally sit down and talk to my parents for a while! It was so nice to catch up and hear about whats going on and how everyone is doing! Although, I'm having the time of my life here it's hard not to miss everyone back home! So Sunday afternoon, I went out for the first time completely by myself! I took a trip to TrustMart (which was recently bought out by WalMart and will be soon changing their name) to get a few things for my apartment. I was able to find bath mats, coffee mugs, hangers, a new umbrella (just in case another Typhoon creeps up) and a few grocery items. I will admit, I was a bit nervous about venturing out in the city alone, the crowds of people are always insane, and can become very overwhelming and annoying at times but I'm glad I did it and I think I'm finally beginning to adjust and do as the locals do!