Almost the holiday...

Tomorrow is my last day of school before my 8 day holiday. The holiday is the Lunar Festival and also the 60th anniversary of the founding the the People's Party. So everyone here is super patriotic right now and flags have shown up all around the city overnight. There is supposed to be a huge fireworks display tomorrow night over Pu River (Big river that runs through Shanghai). And you know that the Chinese are known for their fireworks...so I'm excited.

Things to do over the vacation...
1. Go to some landmark/museum every day
2. Stockpile food because apparently supermarkets close down like every other store
3. Talk to my agent and find a new place to live
4. Try to conserve money.
5. Take as many pictures as possible.(That's for you mom). :-)

Tonight I'm going to an all I can eat hot-pot Japanese Restaurant for 88 quai and then out to my first KTV place.
In case you don't know, KTV stands for Karaoke-TV and from what I understand, they are immensely popular here in Shanghai and some of them can be immensely shady as well. Places for men to meet "women of the night." My friends and I are going to a not-so-shady one however and I've been warming up my singing voice all day.

Things I've learned today...

1. The kids and I play a new game. It's called "Let's hit Ezra below the belt with large blocks, then giggle and run away." It's a long name for a game I know, but then again, the game was long...and painful.
2. High fives are international and ageless. A baby high-fived me today.
3. It's very rude to try to humbly refuse gifts. One of the students parents bought me a really nice expensive fountain pen.
4. People don't really believe in lines here. Everyone just kind of crowds around what they're trying to get to and jumping to the front may be rude, but no one really says anything about it.
5. Most of the people here have there natural Chinese names, but they also have English names. Their English Names aren't at all related to their Chinese name. I had a parent today ask me to think up a good English name for her son. I'm thinking Maximus.

Love,
Ezra