[Insert Job Description Here]

During training, we are told, “your service is what you make of it.” If you want to be out of site all the time, hanging out at the bar, sure, you can do that. Or you can make something amazing of it. To remove any doubts that last sentence might have created; almost all volunteers opt for the latter.

I opted for the latter as well and there are days where I'm out and about in Panama, living another day of my Peace Corps service, and it will dawn on me that, I get paid (as little as I do get paid haha) to be doing what I'm doing. I had one of those moments today when I was in the middle of the jungle hiking up to a water source. A fellow volunteer, in a different sector than water systems asked if I could come and take a look at his system. After that simple interaction, I was now out hiking with him in his community, which is about twenty times larger than mine, to offer what experience and knowledge I have to help assess the water issues being faced by the community. I'm going on a tangent too far, let's steer this back in with some pictures of where I was working today:

Crossing a stream on the way to the water system.

Finally arriving to the water source.

I've also had other amazing work experiences such as when I helped my regional leader deliver some documents to a future volunteer's community. Besides the fact that the area was absolutely beautiful, we got to eat lunch and hang out with the future host family for a bit. The father of the household told us a very interesting story about the roof tiles which his grandfather had constructed over 100 years ago and still survived to this day.

Passing a large orange farm on the way to the community.

The rainy season is in full swing and mud is everywhere.

After taking public transportation to the end of the road, hiking an hour into the community,
we  now have a guide to take us the rest of the way to the host family's house.

Look at that beautiful roofing.

Then there was the time that Engineers Without Borders (EWB) visited a fellow volunteer's site and cultural/language facilitators were needed. I got to spent a few days hiking about my friend's community assisting EWB in their trip.

Community guide leading the way to the next house.

Back when I was a member of EWB at Rutgers University, I had seen a GPS map that was constructed by a group member and I was interested in making my own. As part of my first three months in site, I was required to make a map, so I ended up making a GPS map.

...and then writing a guide for other volunteers to do the same.

I also had interest in solar panels and the neighboring community's health post had some problems with theirs...

These are just a few examples of the many cool work opportunities that Peace Corps offers. Of course not all of my cool opportunities revolve around work. I also give myself some breaks to...

Attend the Black Christ festival.

Party at carnival.

Spend Christmas in Santa Fe with other volunteers.

Travel to Peru.

Watch the US-Panama soccer game.

Attend the Sombrero Festival.

At times it’s hard to justify my time here, typically when I'm sitting at the lowest of lows of a slump in my service. But when I'm not sitting there, life is pretty awesome. Of course you cannot have the bad without the good and the same carries over to life in the States. However, Peace Corps has some pretty awesome good times to offer and I think it has been well worth it. (And for you too if you're considering joining!)

A Suitable Gift: Part 1

I originally introduced this blog to talk of my interesting encounters in China. I’ve slightly staggered away from that path. To venture back on to that path, if only for a brief moment, I’d like to discuss one of my favorite experiences to date. 

When one goes to a faraway place, it is custom to return home with interesting things from the journey. This problem plagued me since my arrival in China. I ventured from shop to shop, week to week, unable to locate suitable gifts for my family. Like the United States, China is also full of cheap “Made in China” things and many of these shops didn’t offer anything of a higher quality. Not wishing to purchase such things for my family, I was stuck in a rut. As my mind wandered I thought of several potential gifts but each were quickly dismissed for various reasons. One day while sitting at my desk working it hit me. The answer had been literally under my nose the entire time, Chinese tea. 

In my pursuit of interesting places to visit within Shanghai, the Datong Lu Tea Market had continuously popped up. I’d never been but I figured it was finally time for me to make the trek. 

Early one Saturday, I located the market on my computer, 598 Datong Lu near Zhongshan Bei Lu, and headed out the door. The oh so frugal shopper that China has made me, I opted for the subway instead of a taxi, believing that Shanghai was now my city and I could easily find the market. I navigated the subway to my destination and then emerged in to a bright and busy market place. The street sign pointed me along the proper heading and off I went. 

I counted down the numbers as I walked, still a good five minutes to my destination. At about this moment I had arrived at the Zhongshan Bei Lu intersection. A little surprised that the numbers had dropped so quickly, I took a look around but did not see any signs of the tea market. To my horror, I looked across the road and found that Datong Lu was no where near the number 598 and whoever’s instructions I decided to trust were wrong. Or maybe I was. I gave my friend a call and he verified that the address I had was indeed correct. The first straw of hopelessness was cast upon the camel’s back. 

Determined not to let Shanghai conquer me so soon, I trudged on, still a slight hope that my address was correct. This could be possible with the use of the one ambiguous word contained within my directions, “near.” I crisscrossed all the surrounding intersections looking all about for any hope of a tea market. On one street, I found a giant billboard with “Datong Lu Tea Market” with an arrow pointing in “that” direction, wherever that may be I couldn’t understand because I found nothing. 

The camel was looking rather exhausted from the weight of the straw but I continued on. Number 598 Datong Lu must be the location. I retraced my steps back to Datong Lu and continued south. With each passing intersection the crowds died down and so too did my hopes of a tea market. The path I was on eventually turned into a tunnel, with 600 on one side. Surely my answer lay upon the other side of the tunnel! I crossed through to the other side, walked up the stairs, and as I stepped upon the last step, the camel’s back broke. I’d arrived at 590 Datong Lu.

It's a Good Day for a Grab Bag

小中大下上人!!

It’s been almost four months since I began learning Chinese and I’ve finally started Chinese characters. My logic for not learning characters was that almost everything is written in English. The grand total of times that I’ve found Chinese characters useful is to order food. I was curious though and asked my teacher about characters. She first introduced me to several simple words this past Sunday. As I went through my daily routine in Shanghai, I noticed these characters everywhere. It would be like I am studying all the time. Since learning these first few characters came so easily, I’ve decided to continue on and try and learn all the characters for the Chinese words that I know. 

Also, incase you were wondering, the title is “small medium large below above.”

On the next train out of Shanghai

This is rather embarrassing to say but I’ve not left Shanghai except twice for work since I’ve come to China. I decided it was time to look at a map, pick a place, and go already. Within a short train ride there are several popular places around Shanghai. A friend suggested Hangzhou, so Hangzhou it is. I haven’t done much research yet but I will be leaving next weekend to explore one of the many wonderful places outside of the main cities. 

Cranes 

Last week, on my first day out of Shanghai to visit another factory in the city of Taicang I looked out the window, soaking up as much as I could see. One thing that stuck out was the amount of large construction cranes that filled the scenery. I decided that the next week I would count the number of cranes I saw. Today, within a span of 25 minutes, I observed 57 cranes. That means that 57 buildings with at least ten or so floors are being built. I could maybe comprehend this number if these cranes were in Shanghai but we were outside of Shanghai. There was no city apparent from the highway, just large buildings being built everywhere along the highway. It boggles my mind just how fast China is expanding. Here is a picture of the difference twenty years made in Shanghai. You have to wonder what will happen to the rest of China.　

Pictures on a Bike

I decided last night to take a quick ride to my favorite Chinese restaurant to grab dinner. A quick ride turned into an hour and a half bike ride with my headphones in, relaxing and flowing along with the bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, and bicycle/truck hybrids. I had no particular aim so I just took the path that looked most interesting. Somewhere along this ride I realized that my blog was lacking in pictures. What better way to use my bike than to incorporate it into my blog posts. Like something out of an activities catalog filled with such things as underwater basket weaving, photographing while biking was born. Sadly I do not trust myself to take my phone, camera, music player, wallet, and keys along for a bike ride, I had to make a sacrifice. If you thought I’d keep the camera you’re wrong. My music player has a camera that will suffice, albeit very blurry. Here are my pictures of the random happenings within Shanghai that I don’t have to motivation to write long posts about. Expect a few new pictures every time I ride. Maybe they’ll be blurry, maybe they’ll be clear, you never know!

Here is a picture of a bicycle/truck hybrid with way too much stuff piled on. Sitting on top of the pile is a man with another man driving. These seem to be much more the norm that regular trucks. The most interesting I've seen is one of these carrying a huge pile of Styrofoam which was roughly 10x12x15 feet in size. 

The dog situation in Shanghai is pretty weird. Dogs here for the most part go without leashes. They seem to be better trained than their American counterparts. While on the subject of dogs, there are lots of stray dogs roaming about. The interesting thing about them is that they've learned to adapt to the city. One day I was curious so I followed a stray dog around for a few minutes and he would stop and wait for the light to change to red so he could go. 

I Bought a Bike!

In celebration (not really) of my five months stay in Shanghai I've decided to buy a bike. Also, only have time for a quick story today, expect more to come soon. I witnessed the other day quite possibly the best way to summarize the driving situation here in China. On a road with two lanes each way, a guy was in the left lane trying to make a left turn. All the cars were honking at this car because he was not making a turn. Finally when there was no traffic and he was clear to make the turn, cars started overtaking him on the left side, while still honking, so that he could not make his turn.

Another Grab Bag for the Random Photos

I am starting to really appreciate the situation that surrounds me. As this appreciation grows, my observance of potentially awesome pictures grows as well but sadly I don't have my camera with me most of the time. One pictures I really wish I could have taken contained several motorized scooters sitting at an intersection waiting for the light to change. As it was raining out, each rider possessed a different vibrantly colored rain jacket. In the background sat grey buildings along with a dark and angry sky. I feel that maybe it's time to bring my camera out with me everywhere I go. For the time being, here are some random pictures that ended up on my camera that have yet to find a home.

This here is the Bund on one of the many cloudy/rainy days so popular to Shanghai. This is the business center of Shanghai. Would have loved a better picture but no luck, thanks weather!

What is an international city without it's one or two American restaurants? Not badly priced either, this cheeseburger, coleslaw, and milkshake for about $10.

Take a guess how high I rolled my sleeves up. It's going to be a fun battle with the weather this summer.

This is the result of one of my many random wanderings throughout the city. I came accross an awesome park filled with massive monuments like this. For what, I have no idea but they look cool.

If you buy it, they will sell it.

If shopping is your leisurely desire, Shanghai is your city. Across the street from the shopping mall is a shopping mall and across from that shopping mall is another shopping mall! Until arrival in Shanghai, I never knew it’d be possible to have more shopping malls than Starbucks. With the typical shopping malls being overpriced and oversized, I turned my attention to other means by which to spend my money.

There are two shopping centers that stick out thus far. The first location sat tucked away, hidden from foreigners, but definitely no secret to the natives. The blurry picture which I hastily took when no one was looking contains the dollar store to end all dollar stores. Contained within one building of five floors is everything and anything you’d ever find in a dollar store and more. Whatever floor space wasn’t occupied by shops was filled up with shoppers. With no intent of carrying around random dollar store goods for the rest of the day I moved on without purchasing anything.

A few days later the money in my pocket requested to change hands. The second location would be there to lend a helping hand. Sitting just between the exit to the metro and the stairs to the ground level of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum sits a massive market of easily two hundred small shops. Most notable of the shops is the collection of tailors who will custom make shirts, pants, and suits. For roughly $150 two pant/jacket suits can be purchased and picked up within a day. Since my bargaining skills are not yet up to par yet, I got suckered into $125 for one suit which is thankfully still a good price by American standards. If I decide to return again for more suits I will not become a sucker a second time.

Lesson learned: While not accepted in America, bargaining is fair game and can put some money back in your pocket.

Would you like a side of history with your Dairy Queen?

 With another week standing between me and my job, sitting around at home gets boring rather quickly. I figured my time would be best spent exploring. A few days prior I had attempted to find the Yuyuan Gardens but failed so I decided that a second attempt was in order. The Yuyuan Gardens sit in the middle of Old Shanghai which possesses some of the coolest architecture to be seen in the city.

Upon exiting the subway at the Yuyuan metro stop I looked around and was unable to locate Old Shanghai. I wandered aimlessly for awhile until spotting the architecture popping up over the skyline. I took off through the side streets until eventually they opened up to reveal my destination. 

At first, as I strolled through the area, the amount of shops selling souvenirs did not faze me. However as I continued to walk I realized "Old Shanghai" had been taken over with souvenirs and fast food. This was rather upsetting as I was expecting a more historical experience. As I continued to wade through all the shops, I eventually stumbled into the Yuyuan Gardens. 

Thankfully the wall surrounding this area kept the businesses out and the history in. The area was full of bamboo trees and small historic buildings. A pond sat right in the middle filled with massive fish. When you clapped they came right up to you and some people touched them. The area was very peaceful and relaxing. Content with my time of relaxation I headed toward the exit. 

Once back out in the shopping area I realized just how touristy this area was. In my two weeks here I have averaged seeing about ten to twenty foreigners in a day. There were easily hundreds of tourists in the area. This made me realize the desire for so many people to set up shop here with the amount of money these people bring in. Not wishing to spend any of my own money, I headed off in search of the subway.

Hopefully the Picture Tastes Good

 Buried somewhere in the streets surrounding the Yuyuan Gardens metro stop lies Old Shanghai. However, I did not know this because I thought the subway stop was right in the middle and ended up on some random street that was not in fact Old Shanghai. Unable to locate it and strongly desiring food I gave up my search for Old Shanghai and replaced it with the nearest restaurant. Still, not quite comfortable with the city, I spotted a place where two foreigners were eating and decided to give it a try. Upon entering, I stood and waited for several minutes to be seated before realizing that customers seat themselves.

My menu arrived shortly thereafter and I opened to the first page to find a menu lacking in English words. That's not so bad I guess, I can just look at the pictures and should be able to find something to try. Contained within the first page was not a single thing that looked appetizing. The next several pages went by with the same conclusion. As the last page approached the fear of not being able to find something to eat steadily rose. Thankfully, on the last page there was a picture of a dish of potatoes, not my proudest moment but I am not about to order something random and potentially make a fool of myself by gagging while trying to eat it. So potatoes it is, and what better to accompany them than a beer since that is the only drink I can figure out how to order.

After deciding what to order I spend the next ten minutes sitting around waiting for my order to be taken. It is not until later that I realize that since these waiters are not tipped, there is a difference in what the waiters will do. Thankfully my waiter realized this and eventually came over to take my order. The conclusion of this meal resulted in a full stomach and a bad story ending.

Lesson Learned: Do your best to try and understand others and the differences by which they live their lives. Failing to do so will probably have you ending up looking like an idiot.

I Traveled to New York to Check out Time Square

The job for which I’ve come to Shanghai for does not begin until June tenth so while the rest of the city begins the Monday morning grind, I’m left to my own for the day. Motivating myself to leave the apartment at first was pretty tough, it’s just so easy to sit around and watch movies and do nothing. I ended up doing just that for the next hour and a half until my stomach made it known that staying inside all day was not a plausible idea.

With the thought of dumplings still fresh in my mind I headed off in search of the restaurant from the night prior. Due to my state of jet lag I could not remember the location so I roamed aimlessly for awhile before stumbling into it. Ordering food was the first time the language barrier became apparent. I was reduced to pointing at pictures to order my food.  Sadly this will be the limiting factor every time food is ordered without someone who speaks both Chinese and English. Maybe in a few months I’ll have a good enough grasp of the Chinese language to accomplish this task.

After getting my stomach topped off it was time to return home to hang out for a bit while I waited for my appointment to check out an apartment. While heading home, I realized that I really needed to snap out of it, if I keep going home, I might as well have stayed home in New Jersey. To counteract my previous thoughts I did the exact opposite, I got on the subway and took it to a random location. My destination was People’s Square, which I’d heard a little bit about. Walking out of the subway I realized I’d stumbled into yet another large shopping center. I only lasted a few minutes on this street before thinking that I did not want to spend another day roaming through large shopping centers. A random ally appealed to me and I went exploring the side streets. Nothing exciting to report but it was interesting to see the side streets which weren’t all polished and touristy.

Since I had forgotten to get the address of the apartment I was checking out before leaving for breakfast I made my way home. With the address in hand I returned to the subway. Figuring I’d probably get lost along the way, I gave myself a two hour buffer until the appointment. I ended up making it there in about twenty minutes so I took the next hour and a half to explore the area. Arriving early is now my choice for all further destinations. There wasn’t really anything of note to report on but constantly checking out new locations is bound to have some interesting results.

The apartment sat inside a gated community on the seventeenth floor with an amazing view from the room that I might decide to reside in for the next six months. The residence was rather bare but I didn’t require much since I wouldn’t really be there more than to sleep, hopefully. After my quick tour I was wet from the constant rain and stinky from the hot weather so it was time for a shower and relaxation.

As I left the shower my phone rang and it was my friend ready to head off to dinner. With at least the shower accomplished, I met him for dinner. In route to dinner, he let me know that each night would be filled with a new interesting meal; tonight’s menu was Korean barbeque. This was probably my most enjoyable meal in a long time, sorry United States but Korean barbeque just beat you. The style of Korean Barbeque involves ordering raw meats and vegetables and having a grill in the middle of the table which you then can choose what you’d like to cook and eat. Chicken wrapped with bacon was easily my number one choice for the night. After a long dinner, with a full stomach and jet lag the ever constant nag, it was time to head home to rest.

Doing it right: A quick note of the subways, they are awesome. I’ve been on Boston’s and New York’s subway system and neither have anything on Shanghai. The two best parts of the subway are the stickers on the ground constantly pointing you in the right direction and each subway line is completely separate from the other. While on the platform, one side is one direction, and the other side is the other direction for the same line. You don’t have three different trains pulling in going to different destinations and you don’t end up on one side of the tracks for uptown and the other for downtown if you have to make a last second change on which way you’re going.

Lesson Learned: Traveling is pointless if you’re going to go the typical route. Step off the beaten path, get lost, and enjoy the process of finding your way back