Hey Shanghai HEY! I am finally here after 26 hours! Its about 2:30 am right now. I should be sleeping, but I can’t fall asleep. Surprisingly, I’m getting access to WordPress so I want to take advantage of this until the Chinese government realizes this loop hole I’ve discovered! My plane ride here was quite an experience. Once I hopped onto my last connecting flight with China Eastern Airlines, I was looking forward to a nice long nap since I had only grabbed 3 hours of sleep the night before. Exhausted, I find my seat, 22A (window seat of course) and start organizing my space so I can sit comfortably during this 14 hour flight. I was writing my last text messages to my friends when this 16 yr old Chinese boy sits next to me and says “Are you going to text the whole time for the next 14 hours?” This should have been the first sign that this trip was going to be one of the most interesting flights I would ever take.
His name was Jack White K. Apparently this is what his friends called him. He’s from Shanghai and lived in Texas for an exchange program. Sure, I can digg that. I thought, what a nice young boy! I was glad to have a friendly neighbor passenger to make this flight go by faster.
An hour passes by, and I am still not asleep. Why? Because Jack isn’t asleep. I would close my eyes for a second and he would put his hat on me or start waving his hands in front of my face until I opened my eyes. I felt like I had to be on full alert in case he were to draw on my face with a sharpie or poured water on me so I would wake up. If he was a 5 year old boy trying to get my attention, I would totally be laughing at him. But at 16 years old…I wasn’t sure how to react. But I did, in awkward smiles. He definitely kept me entertained. As I was trying to sleep by leaning my head on the trey table, he puts his pillow on my back and lays his head down. Not only that, as dinner time rolls around, he decides he wasn’t hungry. But then he proceeds to take a knife from my trey, grabs a piece a fruit from my plate and eats it. All done without saying one word. I was so shocked that I thought I was watching him do this in slow motion. Before we parted, he asked for my email, said our goodbyes and went our own separate ways. I wonder if all 16 year old Chinese boys act this way?
When I got to my uncle’s house, I had already received an email from Jack.
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“how s your first day here?
just call me whenever you free , show u the most wonderful part of shanghai~
cant belive we live that closed!!!”
———–
I still can’t believe these last 30 hrs really happened. In the end, I’m glad I got to meet Jack White. My first friend in China. What a kid….
I haven’t been able to take any pictures of Shanghai yet, but here is a glimpse of my uncle’s house, where I will be staying during my stay here!
the bed where I should be fast asleep...
it looked much cleaner before I got there :/
view of my uncle's neighbor's houses outside my window
I will post more pictures soon!
Anica
Hey Anica! Welcome back home! Take a good rest first before you can start to experience something there in Shanghai!
AHHH I’m screaming for joy but also kind of wanting to cry because you are so far away …and I want to be there with you! Let the beautiful adventure begin, I can’t wait to hear everything about it. Your uncle’s house is so pretty, what a pimpin place to stay, was he excited to see you? I can’t believe I was hearing your voice over an American cell phone just a day ago…I almost lost it when we hung up.I almost asked you if it is hard to type on a Chinese keyboard …then I remembered your laptop…duh. Oooh they better not block this blog. Love it and Love you!
yeah my uncle was super excited! its nice to be with my family again! I guess wordpress isnt blocked right now?? YAY! I miss u!!