Mrs. Wong Comes to China!

This past Thursday I went on a day trip to Shanghai to visit my high school Chinese teacher, Margaret Wong. Every other year Mrs. Wong takes a group of students and parents from Breck on a tour of China, and this year was her 30th trip! And it just so luckily happens to fall on the year that I am in Nanjing, so of course I had to go and visit!

On Thursday morning I caught the 10 am train to Shanghai, and an hour and a half later arrived. After catching a cab to where they were getting lunch, we met up and ate some Mongolian barbeque.

We did rather fit the 'tourist' profile

 After eating and exploring the Bund (the waterfront area of Shanghai) we took a boat ride on the Huangpu river. I've taken a boat ride on this river before on my first trip to China, but it was amazing to see how much had changed in just 7 years.

A hilarious poster of how to put on a lifevest

The top part of the boat

This really says 'prohibited to jump over', but hey, striding is close enough

 It was a fun boat ride and when I wasn't catching up with Mrs. Wong I was talking to Andrew Upjohn, an alumi of 2006 who also lives and works in Nanjing China. We knew each other in the way that going to a small high school makes you know everyone, but it was the first time really meeting, and I discovered that he's a pretty cool guy. Hopefully I'll get the chance to hang out with him back in Nanjing!

The older English side

And right across the river the new modern side

Mrs. Wong remembers when she first started taking tours here how this was the only building, and the rest of the area was fields. How things have changed!

 I also talked to some of the current students on the trip. Most of them are sophomores, and the girl that I spent the most time talking to was a French exchange student who had been studying Chinese for only a year.

Me and Mrs. Wong. Of course the only picture I have with her has a finger in it. Go finger.

 I also got interviewed by a woman who writes for the Breck newsletter. They're doing a piece on Mrs. Wong's 30th trip, and are interviewing former students who now live in China. I talked to Mrs. Wong about her trips, and found out that the largest trip she's ever organized had 75 people! The logistics alone made me a little flabbergasted, and she agrees that she's much happier with a smaller group (this one only has 20 people).

We had some barge accompaniment

This was just a neat building that we went by

The iconic Pearl Tower

A neat bridge (I'm sure it has a name, but I don't feel like looking it up)

 It was a fun boat ride and afterwards I had just enough time to walk to meet Alex, a classmate of mine who is currently doing her internship in Shanghai, for dinner. We had about an hour to eat and catch up, and then I was off again to the train station to head home!

Just as we got off the boat the sky line started to light up as it turned dark

The ticket

The free pen I got for coming

It was a very long but very fun day in Shanghai! I am so happy that I got to see Mrs. Wong and catch up a bit, and I can't wait to visit again in May when I get home. Yay Chinese! Love,
Maggie