First Full Day in Shenzhen!

            After falling asleep around 3am Shenzhen time, we woke up to a wake up call from the front desk at 7am. After we laid there for about 10 mins we decided it was time to get up and so that we could try and get on a good sleeping schedule. The first thing we did this morning was take a long walk to find some food, although the smell of the city when I first stepped out the doors made me lose my appetite, but I found that as the day went on the smell went away, or I just got used to it, either way..it was better.  We walked for about 2 hours this morning just looking around and trying to figure out a bit of the city. As we walked we saw children pooping and peeing on the sidewalk, had many men say “Hello Beautiful” or stare and point at us, we even had people take pictures of us, but it was more funny than annoying! We searched for food for a bit but couldn’t really decide on what we all wanted then finally I noticed a little corner store that sold bananas and apples, and Gatorade. Well at least I think it was Gatorade! Shenzhen seems like an awesome city so far. The population is around 14 million although we were told today that they suspect the population is actually 20 million and people just aren’t registering. I also read that the average age in the city is below 30 years of age, which you can definitely see why when you are walking around! There are so many babies, and children and young people everywhere! I swear out of all the people I saw today, I would say 20 of them were above the age of 40!

            After we found some fruit we walked a bit more and decided we needed something more to eat. We came to a little restaurant on the street where none of the waitresses spoke any English. We decided that we would order one thing and all try it together to make sure we liked it. Avery took our a receipt and drew various animals and put a X through them, and then drew various vegetables and put a check mark beside it. Luckily the waitress understood and brought us a delicious bowl of noodles with peanuts and vegetables and some kind of sauce that was good, and also four sets of chopsticks (I promise that I will eventually master these) With the language barrier, there are definitely times that you have to innovate to get what you wanted. But the pictures of the vegetables and animals worked and we ended up sharing an awesome meal.
            When we came back from our walk we went to the school. Luckily there was a teacher already at the gate or else we probably wouldn’t have been let in by security. We met a lot of the teachers who are all foreign (mostly from NB, NS or Australia or England) and young! This day has made me realize how small this world actually is. There are so many connections made between people I know and people that they know it is unbelievable! A lot of the teachers are from the Maritimes so I guess that helps, but the world just keeps getting smaller and smaller!

yes, I have long legs 

            After a little tour around the campus, me and Kate went and got some workout clothes on and headed to the water front with a few of the teachers. It’s amazing to me that they have been here for 7 months and have never gone where we went today! It was amazing! We ordered some egg fried rice and took the bus down and sat along the water while we ate our food (with chopsticks of course. I am getting better at using them!) After we ate our food we walked back along the water on this concrete path that went forever! You could see Hong Kong across the water as we walked along the path. It was awesome. The teachers that we were with kept saying that coming to the water front has changed their whole perspective on Shenzhen. I can’t believe they had never been there; it was only about a ½ hr trip away from the school! It is definitely a spot I will be back to! But next time I will remember to wear sunscreen! As I write this it is currently 8:30pm here and I am falling asleep! Trying to get my body on schedule hasn’t been that bad at all. I know that 8:30 is a little early, but I need the sleep so goodnight!