october

The other day I was finishing my shower at the gym when a women came by, threw open my shower curtain, asked to borrow my shampoo, and then reached in my toiletries bag and took it. I didn't say a word. I just stood there naked in shock at the blatant violation of my privacy. I wasn't sure if I could just walk over to her shower, throw open the curtain and take it back. So instead I went and changed into my clothes and found her later. These are the kinds of things I have to deal with on a regular basis.

I went snowboarding today. It was a pretty hot Saturday, so my roommate and I decided to hit the slope. That's right, Shanghai has an indoor ski field, imported piece by piece from Japan. It was great. Take the smallest, most pathetic bunny hill you've ever been on, flatten it to a 20 degree angle, and you've got the Shanghai Ski Field. There is a little lift that you can take to the top, but it goes pretty slowly, so we just walked up the side. It really wasn't that strenuous or anything. The snow was complete shit. Run your hand along the inside of your freezer, and you've got the general consistency of the snow. I fell once and now I have a huge scratch down my arm. All the Chinese were decked out in the ski outfits the center provides. These were also imported from Japan and thus have Japanese writing all over them. I wore the pants - black with an orange stripe down the sides - and a t-shirt. I think the t-shirt confirmed the thought in all the Chinese that foreigners are insane. Yes it was 90 degrees outside, but there was snow inside. How can you wear a t-shirt?

You had the option of renting skis or a snowboard. The Chinese were all skiing. Or trying to. They'd go about 3 feet with their legs spreading apart the entire time and then somehow do a face plant. It was hilarious. Watching that would have been all I needed, but I did actually get a couple 'runs' in. The actually had a bit of a snow park. It was a jump and a rail. There were a couple other foreigners there and we ripped it up on the jump. The Chinese were gawking in awe the entire time. It was a pretty fun time. Since it wasn't my board, and it was a piece of shit, I had no problems with running it across bare areas or landing on it oddly. I have no idea where it came from, all it had written on it was 'Made in America'.

Anyway, I'm getting out of Shanghai next week. I'm heading down to Guilin. Hopefully it will be good. It's the national holiday this week, so I don't have to work. 56 years of the People's Republic of China. Wow. In Shanghai people celebrated by buying a bunch of novelty balloons in the shape of hammers and running around hitting each other. The Oriental Pearl Tower also changed its light pattern to red stars. I can feel the patriotism pulsing.

Anyway, hopefully I'll take some pictures in this next week. Guilin is supposed to be incredible. I may also be very annoyed because I'm traveling with 1.6 billion other people. I need to get out of this city though.