October 3rd - A Fun Beginning 好玩的开始

Arrival ◯ 我到达了

After some troubles getting to Shanghai (上海) I left DFW on October 1st at 10:40 ish and set foot in Shanghai on October 2nd at 2:15 pm (14:15). It was a nice and easy plane ride, I slept half of the 15 hour journey, while the other half was spent watching Chinese movies and listening to music.

I watched a few movies on the plane so that I could practice my Chinese listening and prepare my brain for the barrage of language that I was about to face. I watched: Shadow (影), New King of Comedy (新喜剧之王), Kung Fu Monster (武林怪兽), and I started to watch Wandering Earth (流浪地球) again but didn't finish it as we landed.

Shadow was a typical ancient Chinese war drama that was pretty predictable if you've seen any other Chinese war movies. I didn't like it and I was actually rooting for the bad guys (Wang Kingdom) which rarely happens in a movie.

Kung Fu Monster was what seemed like a "for kids" movie and kinda jumped around a little bit but in the end was an okay movie with a... predictable ending.

New King of Comedy was actually pretty good and its not a movie that I'd normally watch. Seemed like a Comedy/Drama sort of movie with a happy ending. It wasn't very predictable, kept up a nice pace and the mood of the movie slowly changed from Comedy to Drama smoothly. It was a good movie.

Wandering Earth is an okay sci fi movie that is fun to watch but it does have that "Chinese Nationalism" thrown throughout it.

Once I arrived I was greeted with a pleasant surprise, very few people were going through security so I sped through it (using a little Chinese in the process with the passport checker) and went out to meet my friend girlfriend but as usual, she's late and I'm early. It was great to see her again after 6 months in America.

The first day was spent reconnecting, getting used to China, and eating some food. It was fun.

Eatin' Grub 🍜 吃吃吃~

After a relaxing first day the second day began with us planning what we were going to do. Today's main focus was just going out, walking together and eating! We ate some pretty good food from (Sheng Jian) 生煎，(Pot stickers) 锅贴，(Beef Soup) 牛肉汤，(Soybean milk Ice Cream) 豆浆冰淇淋，(Hong Kong Fried Rice Noodles) 香港炸酱米线. All of it was really good, as most Chinese food is, but with it being national day and the golden week everywhere is packed with people like sardines in a can... but with more people than that.

We also did some shopping along with the eating. We walked around "People's Square" so that I could buy some new books to study my reading and writing while she bought an english book that I recommended her. After eating our final meal we headed back to the metro to return to the hotel but stopped at a Feiyue store where I bought some nice red shoes... that might be slightly too big to work out it. We'll see, I wear different thickness socks all the time but they look really cool. I'd like to get some red monk socks to go with them for training. Those shouldn't be too expensive.

I originally planned on working out and she originally planned on taking me everyday to go with her to train but it seems plans change quickly and.... this change of plans has been fun. I didn't do anything the first day as far as training but after writing this article I will stretch and do some basic exercises just to keep me in shape and keep me closer to the SPLITS!

Final Thoughts 💤 最后的想法

I think that its weird being back in China without any family close by and just being back into a place I can barely understand is still... different. Having my girlfriend here with me helps a lot as if I didn't have her I would probably just stick to a few restaurants and the gym. It seems silly but just going into some of the places that she takes me I know I wouldn't have the confidence, or Chinese knowledge, to do it on my own. Maybe one day I will but not now so its good to have a little help once in a while and I think that is what this trip is teaching me. Maybe I should seek out help for the change in my "life plan". We'll see...

What have you realized about yourself today?

-Johnny