Back at it!

Apologies for leaving my adoring fans for a month (just kidding). Seriously though, it's been a crazy month. Between my twin 24 hour travels I reconnected with my love of the south, friends, blue skies, my family, and the beach. And there was a perfect amount of time to have my sleep schedule readjust before screwing it all up again. But I have officially been in China 10 full days. The splendor of returning has worn off and I am back in the routine of sleep, mopeding everywhere, having zero privacy, and a million and one obligations. But I love it. I had some initial moping, but I have  attributed it to weather adjustment. We were spoiled first semester with uncommonly low levels of smog and then winter break was life-saving in the air quality department. But it's worth it!! I can't explain the sensations that come with exploring this city. Or even realizing that all the things you used to point frantically at first semester you can now say with ease. Beyond cool. 

Ok the mental tirade is over! Here's a look at some amazing things I've seen/eaten/experienced over the past 10 days that will hopefully excuse my virtual silence :)

1. Delicious Food! - Korean chicken and rice noodles, Chinese fresh squeezed juice, and the White-Chocolate Oreo Cronut from Woody Baker. So different but show the great diversity of foods in this amazing city that we love seeking out! 

2. Starting off the Shanghai 33 for the spring semester with these awesome Indiana bros. Chris on the left and Gus on the right. Gus already did 17 of the 33 before the semester even started! But sorry about the Colts.... Moving on!

4. Momi Cafe (aka The Time Travel Cafe): purchase a postcard and address it to anyone, in any country, at any time. Seriously! The slots behind us are just dates for this year and the white boxes in the distance (over Rhett's shoulder) are for years in the future - going all the way up to 2026! 

5. The 1933. Previously a slaughterhouse, this warehouse (and the blocks around it) have transformed in recent years to hold a variety of shops and art exhibits even though the true star is the architecture of the building itself! Awesome to walk through!

6. The Cool Docks - Right by the warf of the Bund, the cool docks are a series of small warehouses converted to high end shopping and retail. Cool to walk around, but we suggest walking a block north to Buba's Texas Barbecue. Never thought there would be BBQ as delicious as this in China!

 

7. The Avocado Lady - Crowded at all hours of the day, this little hole in the wall offers a variety of products westerners love but have been disappointed with when purchasing form other "foreign markets." And as you can probably guess from the name, her speciality is avocados. 

8. Nanjing Lu Pedestrian Street - you could spend DAYS exploring each cafe, store, and restaurant tucked in the multilevel shopping complexes an hotels lining this street but I think the true value of this area is the people watching. Hard to explain, but my personal favorites were the endless crowds of locals dancing (with and without props) to all sorts of music! Adorable.

9 and 10. Buddhist Xiahai Temple and Tilanqiao Prison. Right around the corner from one another, these marvels of Chinese architecture greatly juxtapose each other as well as the sectors of society that they represent. 

 

11. Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center - Behold! The entire city of Shanghai in miniatures! Crazy seeing your home fits into the massive puzzle that is a thriving metropolitan city. I could have stayed for hours pinpointing all the amazing facets that make up Shanghai. 

  

11. Table-Tennis Class at Pepperdine Shanghai - this is their classroom! So jealous that I don't have enough units available to take the class, but this is where they get to battle it out. Pretty impressive isn't it? Apparently their professor is UNREAL. Can't wait to go watch!

12. Ye Garden - Surrounded by a lake perfect for skipping rocks, gazebos positioned for relaxation, and tunnels egging you to explore every little hideaway, I can see how wonderful it would be to be treated at a hospital that allows you to take a stroll in this tranquil, un-crowded garden. I would suggest a visit when the vegetation has grown out a little! Very nice stop!

until next time!

love,

kpk

A Day in Shanghai - Video

hello dearest ones! I've made another video with the theme "a day in shanghai!" This will let you see what it looks like to drive around on mopeds, go to cocos, group dinners, and class at Fudan, plus some bonus footage of the shanghai art museum field trip and the pearl tower during our final banquet. I am by no means good at making these videos but I've absolutely loved looking through all of this footage while being away and I hope you all will, too! enjoy!

love,
kpk

Definitely not in China anymore

There have been some things about being back that have been easier than expected, and then there have been some things that I guess will just take time. Probably the exact amount of time I will be back... then I need to start all over again! But I thought it would be interesting to share a few of those things with you guys because hey, my kpk life has definitely affected my life in america.

Okay, so the easy things:

1. Driving. Who knew? Yes the driving culture is much crazier in China but it is an organized chaos that I have come to appreciate. And though I have only driven a moped while over there, I expected it to be much more difficult stepping into a drivers seat. But thankfully, things have been easier than I foresaw them to be. However, I am still exceptionally paranoid about American cops because I can't pretend I don't understand them if I were to get into an altercation. :)
2. Eating. I know that sounds a little silly but I honestly expected american food to wreak havoc on my digestive system. Our food is SO much saltier and full of not-so-good-for-you-stuff that I've been surprised my system hasn't taken a huge hit. Can't wait to find out if the reverse of this expectation happens when I return. :\
3. Being social. I honestly thought I would have a hard time interacting with people after nearly four months of pointing and making other wild gestures to convey what I want! I feared that when returning to the states, I would do the same gestures on accident or be unbearably awkward. While living in a house and taking classes where "normal," English interactions occured, it did not mitigate those fears. Even as I landed in the Chicago airport, the buzz of conversations that I could easily understand more than just bits and pieces frazzled me to an embarrassing degree. But after spending nearly 3 and 1/2 hours in an apple store this week, I found myself striking up conversations with an ample amount of strangers about the holidays, China, my general bad luck with Apple devices, and many other things. I guess that fear was a silly one. :(

Now for the things that haven't been so easy:

1. Sleeping. The first couple of days is expected when trying to adjust to two very different time zones, however my frustration over my sleep has been incredibly irksome. I can't take naps. I become groggy by 7 pm and cannot stay up past 10 pm. I used to wake up at 4 or 5 am but that has been progressively improving to 7 or 8. Though this isn't much to complain about, it definitely is something I didn't foresee being an issue. 
2. Being alone. So our program complains a lot because our facilities and the mass population of Shanghai combine to equal zero alone time. Besides the bathroom, you will literally always be around people, and for those who are introverted, it can kind of be a nightmare. But little did I know that after just a couple days of being home, alone time wasn't so nice anymore. I have my perfect dog to keep me company but I've also found myself starting to say something, and realizing no one was there. Not to say I'm looking forward to going back to communal living or thousands of people everywhere, however I definitely do miss the 41 other members of the Jia. Which, I admit, I didn't think I would. 
3. Accepting American's views on China. I say this one with caution because I haven't experienced anything very ethnocentric, it's just a personal realization I've had since being home. Before I came to China, I accepted that the most people knew about the country was that lots of things have a MADE IN... sticker by them. But since I've been back, I've noticed how much China plays a role in American life but how we often overlook it. On the radio yesterday, ice sculptors from Harbin, China were mentioned and I got excited because I knew where they were from and how cool it was that they were in Nashville. But then I also realized that I would have never noticed something like that, or even if I had, I wouldn't have thought of looking into it, because it was China. Something so big and foreign never held my attention before now.  I have become very proud of the perspective my semester in Shanghai has given me and I can't wait to learn more about it when I return. But in the meantime, I will try to make more people understand, at least a little bit, why I we should care and why I love it so much! 

Love,

KPK

Playing catch-up

I'm back in Nashville!! Its so wonderful being home and so far jetlag hasn't been too big of an issue.

Anyways! The reason for this post, and an explaination for the title, is that I finally made a video documenting my Xian & Chengdu trip! I know it is long overdue but it is done and I hope you enjoy it!

Much love everyone, I promise to have more updates soon :)

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

love,

kpk

That's a wrap

Semester 1 is finished!

1 writeup
2 hospital visits
3 months
18 units
42 wonderful students
100s of kuai
Countless memories

I cannot believe that an entire semester in China has flown by. I know I've talked about it a lot but that just proves how surreal it all has been. Every trip and every new experience has been completely unexpected and wonderful.

What's weirdest of all is that in two days I will be back in Nashville, struggling to avoid jetlag. Are people going to see that I've changed? Are people going to get annoyed that China will probably be the only thing I can talk about? Am I going to like the US as much? I know this is so dramatic but they are legitimate concerns.

Either way, I am so excited. I can't wait to have face to face conversations with my family and sleep in a normal sized bed. But I am going to miss China so much. I am already looking forward to spending the break planning weekend trips and getting excited to do it all over again.

dear china, i love you
dear america, i'm coming for you

love,
kpk

Off to the Races

Travel weekend #2 is officially upon us!

As I mentioned in my previous post, this weekend Rhett and I are planning to spend two days in Xian and two days in Chengdu, China. Our itinerary is packed to say the least and this will be our first time on an overnight train and the furthest into mainland china we've ever been! All this considered, we don't really know what to expect. Before coming to China, being so in the dark would make me want to pull my hair out (and honestly the urge is still there), BUT I've had nothing but positive experiences here and I'm not going to stop now!

I guess that's the greatest thing I've learned about traveling: you can look up pictures, best places to eat, and must-see attractions, but it will never compare to experiencing it yourself. Not to mention that the expectations we have were made to be exceeded or not met at all so that we can learn from them. Right now my expectation is that Rhett and I are in for a shock. We will be traveling by train, taxi, bus, bikes, and airplanes all in four days,  and doing so in Chinese is going to be a lot more difficult, I'm sure, than it seems now. But you'll never know until you try, right?

Rhett's phycology class gets out in thirty minutes and then we are taking a taxi to Shanghai railway station to being our journey. So until next time, I hope you find something daring to do this weekend, no matter where you are or how many things on your plate! Next week is Thanksgiving so go make an experience worth being thankful for!

love,
kpk

Addictions

In case you were getting tired of my attempts at serious/deep posts, I hope this will be a nice change of pace. Rhett and I have been talking a lot about spending a couple days in Shanghai filming our daily lives to satiate our family and friend's curiosity. In these discussions we have come up with a lot of ideas of places to go/things to do.... but then we realized that filming a couple days would be a little embarrassing. Why? Because we would be frequently visiting one store over... and over... and over again! Yes, we have developed an EXTREME addiction to coco's. What is coco's you say? This glorious little storefront two blocks away from our Jia sells boba tea, hot drinks, kumquat-lemon juice, and so much more for no more than 13 kuai (aka $2). On our lowest of days we have actually gone 3 times. It is seriously getting bad. To make the situation even worse, we've come up with excuses as to why we go so much (the denial):

1. Only a limited time we can have it
2. Sweets aren't a thing here, so this is how we fulfill cravings
3. $2... Nuff said

And that, ladies and gents is why I am undeniably addicted to coco's. For those who ever visit one of their fabulous locations I highly recommend the chocolate milk tea with boba, cold, with a little ice. For the lighter fair, kumquat-lemon juice with fresh squeezed kumquats inside. Order DA (large) of both and you'll pay 10 kuai each. For those who are extremely interested: click here for their english website.

In other, more exciting, news: Next week is a long weekend! Rhett and I will be going to Xian, Leshan, and Chengdu. On the to-do list in 4 days: visit the Terra Cotta soldiers, Drum Tower, Bell Tower, Wild Goose Pagoda, Leshan Giant Buddha, and the Chengdu Panda Research Base to hold a baby panda! I'm so so excited... but it's four days away from coco's :). Will report back soon!

love,
kpk