We arrived safely in Shanghai. We flew for a little bit over 2 hours. Shanghai is about 773 miles from Hong Kong. The airport is humongous. As soon as we passed immigration and customs, we were met with our travel guide, Mr. Li. We felt very important arriving and someone holding up a sign with Mrs. St-Cyr and my name on it. Mr. Li then helped us getting our suitcases into a shuttle that took us to the hotel. We are staying downtown Shanghai, on the West side of the river.
As soon as we arrived at our hotel, we dropped our luggage off and went outside on the street in order to explore the surroundings of the hotel a little bit. We had to wear our winter jackets for the first time, since it was a lot colder than in Hong Kong. We also wanted to buy some water bottles to make sure we could drink something in case we got thirsty during the night and to be able to brush our teeth. Thank you to everyone who warned us to be extra careful about not drinking the water directly from the tab. There was soooo much going on in the streets. Neon lights everywhere, trying to grab your attention.
We were also very sad when we saw many people begging on the side of the streets. We almost wanted to cry when we saw a little two year old walking up to people with a plastic cup in her hand shaking a few coins that she had in there.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will explore Shanghai a little more. So stay tuned for more…
13 Responses to “Shanghai”
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Glad you had a safe trip. How many people will be in your tour group? Will you be traveling by bus? You can always use Club Soda to brush your teeth when it is hard to find extra “washing” water. How is the food in Shanghi? What are you eating for breakfast in China?
Enjoy….Mrs. Hayes and Class
Hello Mrs. Tolisano and St. Cyr from Mrs. Dawson’s class! We are very concerned about the little 2 yr old girl on the street. Did you give her any money?? Also, did you go into the building that had the huge coca cola sign? Did they serve Coke there? Caroline wants to know this: When you first arrived in China was it hard to get used to the time difference”? Kimberly wants to know if the subway was like the ones here? John Michael wants to know if you have eaten any tofu yet? Mrs. McKnight wants to know more about the food you are eating; Mrs. Tolisano, have you branched out? Richie wants to know if there are lots of Christmas decorations everywhere; Kayla wants to know what the bread is like; is it made with wheat? Eric wants to know if there is PF Chang’s there. Matthew is dying to know if you miss us!! That is all the questions we will bombard you with at this point. Now we are going to work on our “China” door to my room. The students will be copying symbols that mean different things, and we will staple them to the door. We are having so much fun reading about all of your adventures. Keep us posted! Love, Mrs. Dawson’s class, in Mrs. McKnight’s room for Spelling.
Do you understand any words in Chinese yet? Are you using your Chinese money to buy things?
Shanghai looks amazing! It looks very modern. The lights came out great in the pictures…it was neat to see some billboards that we are familiar with, but are in different languages. We were very sad to hear about people begging on the streets
Did you give the little girl any money? Is Shanghai anything like the U.S.A.? Have fun, sleep good, and be safe! Hooray for bottled water! 
Greetings from Mrs. Gatling’s class. Are the silk farms still big industry in China today? If possible, could you take a picture of the caterpillar moth and mulberry tree? Thank you.
Jose,
We are so glad you arrived safely. We were wondering if there were any trains in Shanghai. Also, did Jose meet any new bears on the airplane?
Love,
Mrs. Balek’s Class
Good morning, day, or evening, Ladies! Have you been to any elementary schools in China (besides the international school)? If so, we are interested to know how they teach the Chinese children English. Do they learn conversational English, grammar rules, how to read in English, and how to write sentences in English? Stay warm!! Ms. Barnwell’s class
The second grade is glad that you have arrived safely.
They were wondering a few things. Did Jose fall asleep on the plane? Are you still having a hard time communicating with everyone? When you are in the garden, we would like to find out the name of the special flower of China and did you see one? We would love to see a picture of someone eating with chopsticks, so we know how to do it on Thursday. We hope you have fun and stay warm. Love, Second Grade
We are so glad you made it safe to Shanghai! What an adventure! I love the JOSE photos….they make it so real and concrete that he is sitting so far away and also people on the other side of the world got to touch him. Do they have newspapers available on the streets…in English? Are you exposed to American news?
The Chinese invented “fireworks” Do you see many displays or nightly features for fireworks in Shanghai like you had in Hong Kong?
Also, Genni in 4th grade wants to know if you see any dogs on leashes as pets walking around in the city…and Audrey wants to know if you ate chicken feet or any other “disgusting thing”? and she says, “We all miss you and hope you have a great time in Shanghai and please bring me back something!”
Mrs.Tolisano, did you receive the information I sent you about visiting an elementary school in Xian? You need to call Jerome Dong (13572141455). He is the Director of the China program for Cross Cultural Solutions, whom Lily and I stayed with for 3 weeks while we were in China. His organization was working in several schools when we were there. Happy to hear you arrived safely in Shanghai! We’re loving your news. Susan
We can’t wait to hear more about Shanghai as you continue traveling. The first graders were amazed that you weren’t able to drink the water. It made us very sad to hear about the little girl asking for money. Anna wants to know if you gave her any money. It makes us very grateful for all we have. Have you made it to McDonald’s yet? Could you take a closeup picture of a restaurant menu so we all can see it? Thanks for all your updates! We enjoy hearing from you each day!
Mrs. Gatling’s class is interested to know how much silk thread (or silk thread from how many cocoons) does it take to make a 1′ x 1′ square of fabric? Thank you!
Hi everyone,
We were very sad, when we saw that little girl begging for money. Her mother( we think it was her mother) was sitting near by and was sending her toward our direction. We did NOT give her any money. Sometimes children are used by older people(not necessarily their parents)to beg. It is very sad. We do not see something like this in Jacksonville.