Meiguo Mondays and Brown Sugar Wednesdays

     Here in Shanghai, CIEE students are creating some great traditions for ourselves! Monday night, after a long day of classes, we decided to go to a restaurant called Malone's. It is well known in Shanghai for it's hamburgers, or as the Chinese say "hambaobao".  On Mondays, Malone's has a special where you can get any burger of your choice and a beer for only 50RMB!! Since normally the burgers alone are 90RMB, this is quite the deal. The burgers were huge and delicious and there were so many burger options to choose from. I opted for the Malone's House Burger, which was "loaded" with cheddar and sautéed onions and mushrooms. My mouth is watering just writing about it right now!! We decided to call it Meiguo (美国) Mondays because Malone's was filled with Americans and other ex-pats. I even saw another girl from Wake Forest who is studying here on a different program!! 

     Tuesday was more relaxing and I slept in, finally catching up on some sleep. I had an evening class and then a meeting for my program so we grabbed a late dinner and came straight back and did homework for the rest of the night. However, we would like for Tuesday to become "Turntable Tuesday", with turntable referring to the Lazy Susan style of eating. Basically, a big group of us will go out and order a lot of different dishes and share them all. It's a great way to eat because you can try lots of new things!

     Wednesday afternoon I went shopping with a friend and purchased my first knockoff bag!! It is a hot pink (duh) Longchamp that was 160RMB. Maybe I overpaid? Still cheaper than the US though I suppose. I also bought a really cute shirt to wear out for our Wednesday evening festivities!! Not the most successful shopping trip of my life, but we were short on time so we didn't just have time to wander a lot.

     For Wednesday night, we have decided to start attending Ladies Night at a bar called Brown Sugar. Brown Sugar is a really nice bar in Xintiandi. They have free champagne starting at 9:30 until they run out. A group of us went last night and it was so much fun!! We got there early and ordered some cocktails and appetizers, but we stood at the bar so when the free champagne started flowing we would be the first to get it! When they brought out the first dish, a Parma ham thing, we inhaled the food within about 30 seconds just grabbing the food with our fingers looking like your typical obese Americans. Right as soon as we finished a waiter appeared with some silverware, but that was clearly unnecessary.  We also got a cheese platter which was absolutely amazing since I love cheese almost more than any other food and it is not very common in China. Not too long after we finished, a jazz band started playing and the champagne started to be poured.  At first just the jazz band was playing, but then a man came and started singing and he was amazing!!! They sort of switched from jazz to R&B and Top 40 hits after he came out and we had a great time dancing along.

Sarah, Me, Lucy, and Laura with our cocktails

The awesome band and stage

        Today is my last day of class before I embark on my 10 day Golden Week trip!! Golden Week is a week in China when everyone takes off work and just travels around or stays home and rests. I am going with 3 other girls to Chengdu, Xi'an, and Sanya. Chengdu is known for having pandas and you can pay to hold a baby panda for the small price of $150 (US dollars that is). At first I asked myself if that was a bit much to pay to hold a baby panda, but then I realized that that was the most ridiculous question I have ever asked!!! How many times am I going to get the chance to hold a baby panda?! Not very many. There are also some nice scenic places to hike and a monastery that is supposed to be really pretty. In Xi'an we will see the Terracotta Soldiers. I am currently in the process of hatching a plan to steal a horse and soldier to send back to my daddy for lawn decorations. I think it shouldn't be too hard. Sanya is China's Hawaii, so we are going there last so we can just relax on a beach for the last few days and enjoy some fabulous weather and gorgeous scenery. We will be staying in hostels, which is really exciting because I have never stayed in a hostel before!! Also, we are going to take the train from Chengdu to Xi'an, which will be another first experience that should be pretty fun. 

     It is time for me to take a 休息 (shouxin, rest) before I get ready for my evening plans, big dinner and out to a club. I will try to update my blog again soon, but I will have limited internet access while I am on my trip so it could be a little while!

     And check out my first entry again because I added some pictures and things!!