First week back in Shanghai and what a long one it's been!

The week has been intense with jet lag and starting classes. I'm in the intermediate class (中级) which requires us to study 3 chapters a week over a 5 week period. I'm enjoying the intensity of the classes, it keeps me on my toes, but it is pretty exhausting. Classes at Jiao Tong run at 90 minutes with a 20 minute break between so it is quite challenging to stay focused for that long. On the plus, the coffee "shop" (it's a tiny room) is right next to my classroom so makes it easy to get in line quickly! They also sell snacks like "sandwish"...

You know things get serious when there is no pinyin...

I managed to take a trip to West Nanjing Road and found the cutest cake at Cafe 85.

And later at Mannings to get some mosquito repellent patches...

If these don't keep the mosquitoes away then I've lost hope in the power of the panda!

A trip to Xiantiandi on Thursday and found more changes. It still takes time to come to terms with how quick shops and restaurants can open and close. But a cute new shop opened that create "Mini Me's" where they take photos and make little dolls (much like that Big Bang Theory episode!).

On Friday I managed to finally get my temporary resident permit from the police station so afterwards I went for my favourite omelette rice at Manabe when I got a pretty major shock when a car reversed and knocked the glass so the waitress had to go out and tell the driver to move.

 I wasn't sure if soup should have so many bubbles?

Beef curry omelette rice

In the evening my friends took me to Din Tai Fung for some xiaolongbao to celebrate finally getting my permit sorted.

After dinner we tried to go to Brown Sugar in Xintiandi but it was closed but next door at Luna Bar was a Filipino band playing so we went there instead. It was a 100RMB cover charge so a minimum spend of that per person we spend on drinks. The band was called Fast Track and it was a great atmosphere with the band so close singing a mixture of English, Mandarin, Cantonese even, and during some classic songs the bar turned more into karaoke with everyone joining in. The band even took requests where the waiters were passing out tissues for you to scribble on as they handed them to the band.