Good evening, and welcome to another episode of “Where Did You Go?” I’m your host, Natalie Khoury.

We have some special guests planned for you tonight. Let’s bring out our first guest of the night, ????? – Shànghai t? sh? guan – Shanghai Library. (SL comes out)

Natalie: Welcome to our show
SL: It’s so thrilling to be here!
N: Is it romantic, fiction, and non-fiction too (corny cymbals play)
SL: Clever
N: I try. So SL, tell us little about yourself.
SL: Well, I was thought of and constructed in Shanghai, China. If you are coming from the subway I am the Shanghai Library stop on Metro line 10. I am 5 stories tall and a million stories wide (haha). I cover everything from Children’s books to secret hush hush VIP foreign documents. In my free time I like to bird watch, garden, and go out and hang with my buddies at the Bund.
N: Do you like to read at all?
SL: Ummm… well you see… funny story… I don’t know how. Never learned
N: Oh interesting, talk about an unexpected twist.
SL: Oh yea a real page turner
N: Well it was nice having you on our show. And for being such a good guest, we are giving you and the audience their very own library cards! (SL exits) SL everybody!

Our next guest is a little more intense. She is bright, beautiful, and knows a thing or two about being on top! Let’s all welcome, ????- Ji?otóng dà xué – Jiaotong University!

N: Welcome, Welcome.
JD: WE I am ever so pleased to have this honoring opportunity
N: Well aren’t you educated
JD: I enjoy being able to apply my knowledge to the world around me.
N: Who doesn’t. Ok, so why don’t you give the audience some background?
JD: I was founded in 1896. I am very science oriented. I have over 60 campuses around China, and not to brag, but I am ranked 6th best university in China!
N: Let me just say, you look great for your age. And wow, what an accomplishment, congratulations! What are your favorite things to do around campus?
JD: Well there are so many little convenient stores, restaurants, this amazing spa place, a mall, and delicious bubble tea, all within a 3 block radius. My favorite is probably the bubble tea. The concept is so simple and enjoyable, lets me take a break from all the studying and learning that goes on around me.
N: I’m sure it does. Thank you JD. (JD struts her way out). You can also make your way to JD taking Metro line 10, it’s the stop right before the library!

Sadly, there were a few people who could not make it tonight. First, was a little Turkish market. Due to some stressful times, he decided he would be retiring for a while; so if you want to go see him before it happens, take Metro line 9 to Hengshan Road and walk your way over to Xiang Yang Nan Lu. There you can buy beautifully painted ceramics and enjoy a cup of Turkish coffee… yumm. Lastly, Sprout, or energetic and organic nature buddy, was unable to join us. She was too busy running a marathon for healthy eating to be able to join. Sprout can normally be found by also taking Metro line 9 to Hengshan Road and then walk over to Yongjia Lu. This place is crawling with expats (which probably explains Sprout heavy duty price). She is not cheap haha.

Well that’s all the time we have today. Tune in next week, where we uncover the best places to enact the code “What happens here stays here!”

I’m Natalie Khoury. Here to tell you to stay humid, Shanghai ;).

Why hello, I didn’t see you there. Come on in. I have quite the story for you today. This one is about a girl who went to the largest mall in China to go shopping.

Once upon a time in a land far far away (like in the movie Shrek) there was a young woman, well into her teen years, who had no clothes to wear. This girl came from a land about 7102 miles from here original residence. As any normal young adult would, the girl wanted to buy some new clothes to embrace her new journey. Though the country was known for their amazingly low priced bargain markets, the girl felt that she would have better luck shopping in a mall. The girl found the nearest one, 2 minutes away from her host family might she add! Turns out that the mall the girl was so conveniently located by was the largest mall in the entire country. Talk about go big or go home!


With the mission of finding clothes clear in her mind, the girl set off. How was she going to complete this mission? There was no way she was going to be able to go into every store. The girl looked around, trying to make sense of her situation, when something caught her eye. It was a poster. More specifically a poster of two Western hemisphere models. In disbelief the girl looked again. Indeed, they were two Western folk. Confused, the girl continued her journey around the first floor. To her amazement, another Western model. Where so many posters full of Western models? Last she checked the girl was in Oriental Asia. Continuing her walk, the girl then found an advertisement with an Eastern model. That was more like it. But the girl’s curiosity had been awakened.

Along with her original mission to find clothes, the girl added “figure out marketing campaign intentions” to her list. The younger and more beautiful Sherlock Holmes, made her way back to the first store she found. The models in the picture were a young couple strutting their stuff in skinny jeans and crop tops. Very Western culture. The girl made her way to the second store. This one presented a very well dressed middle aged woman in a cardigan. Very Bel-Air. And like they always say, third store’s the charm. The girl saw a young Eastern Oriental model wearing a very cute and conservative dress. But why? Why the differentiation. What does this all mean? After some time Shelley Holmes figured it out.

The city the girl was living in was extremely international. With that in mind, in order
to fulfill the needs of all those living or visiting the city, the mall had to provide the populous with a plethora of choices. Secondly, it’s Marketing 101 ever campaign has a certain message. “Our clothes are for the cool kids in school,” or “our clothes show maturity” etc. With the clothing stores marketing Western style clothing, they were providing Westerners with a sense of comfort; saying “we have your clothes here, you don’t need to worry.” These companies were also advertising “this is our image, this is what our clothes say. What will you let your clothes say about you?”

The girl found it very interesting that the majority of the clothing selections were in fact Western style clothes. It was only the Chipao section and a very select few suit and cute dress up petite clothing stores that portrayed an Eastern model. It was quite clear that the mall’s target market were both foreigners as well as the young Asian population seeking Western influence.
The girl found this especially intriguing because where she was from, she had grown up around a motley of cultures. Being different was normal and as such every gender, race, and color made up the advertising posters for the stores. No one race was selected because of a certain stereotype. Absolutely fascinating.

After having figured out the puzzle of advertisement, the girl set out to complete her first mission. She set out on her journey to find the store that spoke “Big & Tall, our clothes will fit you!”

Prologue:
What you are about to read are journal entries based on the truths of one Natalie Khoury. Every part of these journal entries are real and none of what you are about to read are dramatized. For the accompanying 15 weeks, Natalie’s journal entries will take you on an adventure only Natalie Khoury has taken. These entries will highlight not only Natalie’s day-to-day observations but also go more in depth on cultural matters that Natalie experiences and witnesses… these are her stories…
Journal Entry #1
In Chinese culture the phrase gong fu is very prevalent and extremely important. For those of you who still think gong fu is just a Chinese martial art, well you’re not wrong but you’re not 100% right either. Like its wide scope of applicability, the definition of gong fu is diverse. In fact, the original definition of gong fu is: any skill achieved through hard work and practice, not necessarily martial. With such a broad range of application it is safe to say that gong fu has now become my life’s new motto. Every skill or goal I achieve is never accomplished until I have invested a lot of time and a hell of a lot of effort.
Though I believe that I have acquired many gong fu; I have to admit that the skill that took the most effort and gave me the most stress and facial acne to pursue is that of independent motivation and domination. What does independent motivation and domination mean you might ask? Well I will be more than happy to tell you.
Having the skill of independent motivation and domination (IMD) is actually quite simple, you just have to sound it out. First, having the skill of independent motivation is to have the ability to motivate yourself without having to rely on someone else to motivate you. Your desire to succeed is so strong that you are the only push that you need and you can get things done. Domination goes a little deeper in that, it’s essentially taking a basket of lemons and being like “Lemonade was so 10 years ago, I’m going to make a Lemon Meringue pie instead.” Yeah it’s heavy duty.
Having been in Shanghai for a little more than two days, I can, with more than 90% confidence, say that all the hard work, stress, and mini panic attacks that accompanied pursuing the skill of independent motivation and domination are worth it. My gongfu chi is strong. When my plane landed in PuDong Airport at 1:11 pm China time, I was greeted by not only 20 other CIEE students but also a wave of relief and surprisingly less pollution than I expected. I wish I were able to say that I rode out the wave like any deft surfer would, but truth of the matter is- is that I rode that wave as swiftly and smoothly as a cow trying to stand on its hind feet and trying to salsa. Relief was soon substituted with apprehension, excitement, nervousness, and gas. Though my study abroad application process was complete, finally made it to China, and had gleaned some mad experience points in IMD, I remembered that my journey is only beginning. I still have a long way to go. Acclimating to culture shock, learning the language, having a social life, and surviving are still unmarked items on my checklist. That’s the kicker about gong fu; even when you think you’ve experienced and learned it all, Life shows up slaps you on the butt and reminds you that you haven’t.

Seeing as how it is still my first week of my blogging, I believe that I am still entitled to posting disclaimers and explaining what to expect from my future posts.
First of all, I will be posting on a twice-a-week basis. The first post of the week will happen on a day between Sunday-Friday (very specific, I know, but I enjoy being unpredictable :P). If you used your honed skill of deduction and came to the conclusion that my second post will happen every Saturday, good job. If you didn’t; better luck next time.
After reading my first blog, you might have noticed that on a scale from a 1 foot baby pool to 7 leagues under the sea, my previous post was somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic. For the record, they are going to remain that way. If you don't like, megabyte me. However, in order for a relationship to work there has to be give and take. Therefore, my second blogs will be a weekly recap of the things that I did, sights I saw, people I meet etc. Happy? I’m happy. Moving on.
When in China do as the Chinese do; avoid each other’s spit.
Over the course of one week I am proud to say that my feet are sore and that the Metro has nothing on me (SEPTA should take some notes, China knows what it’s doing). What makes China so beautiful and easy to navigate is their amazing transportation system. Not only is it everywhere, but it is extremely efficient. I guess that’s why CIEE thought it would be a good idea to have the entire CIEE populous play Amazing Race. Most of you may already know the rules but for those of you who do not here they are:
In teams of no more than 5 people you are going to start off with one clue. Your group is to figure out the clue, go to the monument mentioned, take a picture and then find another CIEE staff member. There you will receive your next clue. This goes on until CIEE decides its not funny anymore seeing a bunch of foreigners figure out a Metro system.
Our first clue was to go to RenMin Guang Chang and take a picture of the museum. After several minutes of asking people what line to take to best get to the museum, we finally saw a group and just followed them. Hey, it’s not cheating, it’s called being resourceful. When we go to the exit, we did what any normal person would do and walked through the turnstiles. It didn’t want to move… little did I know that interchanges aren’t free and that we owed the Chinese Metro Comission some money. With my money went the group we were following, and therefore, we officially lost. We attempted to find the museum but with no such luck, so my group decided we would have our own Amazing Race.
Stop #1
????- Renmin Guang Chang – People’s Square – Metro lines 3 interchange to line 2.
Stop #2
Some road in the middle of the city- Pomegranate juicer
Stop #3
Another random road in the middle of the city- Sugar Cane juicer
Stop #4
Starbucks- where we were supposed to get the next clue- confused the CIEE person- got next clue anyway
Stop #5
???- Lu Jia Zui – Land Family Mouth – Metro Line 2
Stop #5
Pearl Oriental Tower, Shanghai Financial Center (Bottle opener tower) and Jin Mao Tower
Stop #6
McDonalds- where we got the next clue
Stop #7
??? – Xintian Di- New Day Land a.k.a- Place of the first seating of the Communist Party- Metro Line 2 transfer to 10.
Stop #8
Home- sweet home
*Pictures will be up when I finally get the device to take them off my camera. Will be in the order of the stops mentioned above.
**Throughout the week we also frequented the Global Harbor mall, the largest mall in all of China (which is saying something because there are so many malls here). The mall is located at the corner of Zhong Shang Bei Lu and Jinsha Jian Lu. The mall not only has store to buy clothes but restaurants, furniture and a Chinese version of Wal-mart. Crazy.