10 minute update

Hello! I didn't actually fall off of the planet; rather, I just arrived in Shanghai and have been so overwhelmed by how much there is to do here that I haven't had the chance to sit down and write about it!
We arrived here on Saturday. We are staying in Middle School drums located just West of the Bund, so a 10 minute walk from the Old City, 15 minute walk to the VERY NICE school where we're teaching (pretty much an Asian Cary Academy) and a 5 minute walk to the river, complete with a gorgeous view of the Shanghai skyline (pearl tower, etc.). I somehow managed to get the Principal's suite, along with two other girls, and I have the living room to myself, which means that I basically have a yoga studio in the mornings. However, my bed is lacking a mattress, so I'm sleeping on a thinly covered board (that somehow still squeaks like a bed). My back feels great; my hips and ribs, on the other hand, are slightly bruised. Also, my room is the de facto common space for the whole group (everyone else has a 1-room double), so there are always people in my room, especially since the only place we can pick up any wireless signal is right up against my window. Luckily, I've managed to just curl up in bed and go to sleep when I want to, and so far no one has pulled any pranks on me while I'm asleep (I say so far, because I've been pranking other people and I have a feeling I have something coming my way soon).
Teaching is great. I have 8 students this time, ranging from ages 16-18, most of whom are 18 and heading off to college next year. Their English is comparable to my group in Beijing, but they are much more familiar with American culture and politically minded, so they definitely keep me on my toes the way my last group didn't. Today we're talking about gun control in the United States; all my students so far have been under the impression that in the US, no one dares to leave their house without a gun, so I figure this might be one area that I could tackle. I'm borrowing the lecture slides (powerpoint) from a class I took in the spring; pretty cool to teach using the slides of a Harvard professor.
The city is beautiful. It's much more cosmopolitan than Beijing, and in that sense, it seems much more familiar than Beijing. Most of the group prefers it here, but I think that I felt like Beijing was singularly Chinese, whereas here, you really see the French, British, and American influences, so it's less unique. But, the skyscrapers are amazing. The highest bar in the world, Cloud Nine, is a 10 minute walk from my dorm, so I think I'm going to try to make it there this weekend and watch a sunset. Yesterday we walked around the French concession and eventually ate dinner at an Indian restaurant. They only gave us forks and knives, and I realized how accustomed I've become to chopsticks; I literally had forgotten how to hold a fork! Also, when we finished the meal and walked out, Nicole and I looked at each other and said, I'm full. As in, I will not be ready to eat again in 30 minutes (that's what we normally do). Very strange.
Hope you are all doing well!