It took me 20 minutes to walk from door to door and my Korean friend was already there. We were all whisked into another building to a big hall with the stage set up. During the speech they had 3 translators sitting behind a desk so each sentence was translated into English, Korean and Japanese. It did take quite some time... I ended up watching the girl a few rows in front playing Fruit Ninja on her iPhone.
Different people took turns in welcoming the new students and giving slide show presentations on rules and how the university is run. If you are absent for more than 1/3 of the course you can't sit the exams. I think some of the translations were erm..... not right..... for one there it was written "do not patronize prostitutes" ???
Then there was a dragon dance on the stage and it was quite an experience to be able to watch properly, comfortably sat down (although a little cold) and to appreciate the actual dance.
After the ceremony I headed back to the flat and grabbed some Portuguese tarts from the fast food joint just outside my flat ^^ I have to say these are much better than the ones from KFC which are much greasier.
I then took a break and then took a taxi to ZhongShan Park to the shopping mall. I went into Uniqlo and got some more heat tech clothes which have been a lifesaver out here that I'm even sleeping wearing them it gets so cold! I also bought some boots from Skechers for only 199RMB (yeah they probably are fake but at least they are pretty and cheap!).
Then I met my housemate at the hairdressers because I'd been having such problems with them I believed I got overcharged or something. It turns out they think "bu yao" is meaning "ok" and making me buy things I didn't want. Also for foreign products there is 100% tax and therefore they charged me an insane 3000RMB just for this product and "service" i.e. they would let me come in up to 5 times to get it done. Yet I'd checked online this product can be done at home. My housemate was getting quite annoyed at their attitude and at one point suggested I called the police. But I just felt it was my own fault anyway as it was such a misunderstanding. I did hand over the money before because I was made to believe they already applied it into my hair. So in the end I got the box from them and walked out. As much as my housemate said they should at least do it once for me, I just felt they were so pushy and rude I had to get out of there. I was almost in tears by the time I left it was such an awful experience. So now my hair is already not straight and I have this box I might just wait until I get back to England to use.
The water in Shanghai is hard and even straight after washing my hair its like covered in some gross oil. Yet the stores don't seem to understand it - guess they are used to it by now. Looking up things online the only solution is to change the water pump which is pointless since I don't live here for good.
The more time I spend here the more I realise how undeveloped a lot of things are that I've taken for granted in Western countries. Plumbing is awful here, roads are so dangerous and I feel so many times people take advantage and quite sneaky. I get so frustrated at being followed by the store workers when I go into a shop. I'm sick of people spitting in the streets. I'm tired of having to avoid piles of dog mess in the street and scared of being attacked by stray dogs.
I can't wait until my course starts and I have something to concentrate on.
This side of Shanghai is so different from the tourist areas....
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