The Adventure Begins

Hey all, I'm in the final hours before departure.  I catch a shuttle tonight at 6pm to start my semester abroad.  I have done plenty of packing / organizing / preparing over the last week.  After finishing packing, I weighed and measured my suitcases a few times.  I compared these numbers to the requirements on the Asiana website.  I luckily caught a stipulation this time while reading through the dimensions.  The sum of my suitcases was 112.5 inches in perimeter and only 107.5 inches was allowable.  After trying (and failing) to find just a little bit smaller suitcase, I downgraded to something much smaller.  This required an extra sensitive eye towards what is really needed and what is optional.  A few pairs of pants, socks, and other items later... I was able to fit it all in.  I am pushing the scales at 47 lbs on a large bag and 40 lbs in a smaller bag.

 

I am looking forward to the trip.  I would like to have been able to learn more Chinese before leaving because I think that it would really help me connect to the culture when I arrive.  I also expect that there will be a very different diet in China and for this reason I expect I'll lose a small amount of weight.  My starting weight on this trip is 180 lbs.  It will be interesting to see what the scale reads when I get home.

 

For those who are curious about my travels over the next 36 hrs, my flight can be found from Chicago to Seoul by googling the flight number (OZ 235) and then I'll be connecting through with a flight Seoul to Shanghai (OZ 361).

 

I don't expect to be really able to communicate back to the USA until late Friday or early Saturday (-5 GMT). Fun fact.. all of China is in a single time zone (+8 GMT).

 

Best wishes!

JBiber

 

 

 

Some General Updates

I currently have very low expectation that my blog will work while in
China. I ran the web address through a couple of checking tools, and
it looked like Shanghai was a big fail. I don't know what this means
for the future of the blog. I also found out today that the picture
service I was planning to use also won't be working from China. Maybe
it's for the better because I've heard the internet in painfully slow
and unreliable. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post via email yet or
not. I know the restrictions will be there and will make things
difficult.

I heard back from shanghai shopping tours. The tour costs about 800
yuan which is about 120usd for a full day standard tour. They didn't
reply to all of my questions but they were quite quick to say they've
seen many people drop over a thousand usd on their tour. That's
clearly not what I'm going for. For more thoughts on this tour, look
back two or three posts. I would really have to put some thought into
this, we'll see how well things are going while I'm over there and if
i like the prices I'm getting on goods.

A very good friend of mine just gave me a phone to use while in China.
It's a phone she used while she was there, from China mobile and
everything. I don't know the phone number, but clearly -- I'll be
able to figure that out once everyone else has a phone. It's nice to
have that though and I really appreciate her help in the last couple
weeks.

JBiber

Shanghai Demographics

Average Disposable Income ~ $3200
Population ~ 18.9 million
Population Density ~ 6900 per sq mile
Average Life Span ~ 80 yrs old
-Men  ~    78.5
-Women~ 82
Most Rain: June July Aug > 6"
Least Rain: Nov Dec Jan Feb < 2"

Average Temps  High (Low) °F
Jan    47(34)
Feb   49(36)
Mar  55(42)
Apr   66(52)
May  75(61)

I'm partially packed.  I've gone shopping a few times and surely I'll go a couple more times before I'm ready to get on a plane and get out of here.

JBiber

T: -8 days

Today I finally started getting things in order to prepare for the trip.  I have gone through the list many times in my head and so I finally went to walmart and made my first round of purchases.  I came home and set out the suitcases I plan on using.  The limit for the checked bags is about 62 inches in the 3 dimensions and it must weigh less than 50 lbs.  The larger bag i'm using is about 60 to 61 inches.  I hope they don't count the handle or I'll be over.

I've got a pretty good idea of what I want to take, but once i get it all packed i'll revise it and pack less i'm sure.  I was wondering what I would be getting into when I get over there.  I googled "Things to do in Shanghai" and found that tripadvisor.com has a top 20 list.  The number one thing on the list is a guided shopping tour.  All the reviews are great.  The prices aren't listed on the website, but it's looking pretty cool.  Something I'd really like to do; I'll post pricing information when I know more about the tour.

Also, people have started to give me their Skype account information.  Please let me know your skype stuff or add me; jbiberstine.  Really creative, right?  Look forward to seeing you all via webcam.  I am also distributing my phone number to people while I'll be in China.

I would rather not post the phone number here on the blog because, it's the internet.  If you'd like my number, be sure to sign up for the mailing list.  I'll also post it on facebook.

Thanks,
JBiber

PS - If you've got any tips on how to pack two large bags for 5 months of living abroad -- share your thoughts in the comments!

Shanghai 101

I've been spending sometime away from Rosetta Stone trying to enjoy the holidays.  Not studying Chinese doesn't free my mind from China though.  I have just been looking for some of touristy things to be doing in China.  I think it would be a good place to start throughout the first weekend or two while our group is in China.

This is a link to a map thats somewhat interactive. One of the attractions is the maglev train.. one of the first things we'll be doing as a group.  I'm thinking the water cities would be cool to see.  Theres more attractions that are kind of family oriented for the entire country.

Worth looking at in my opinion.  Do share what you would go visit and what you wouldn't bother with.

JBiber