Changes.

Sorry for not keeping my blog updated for the entire month of September.  There are 2 days left in this hellish month, but what the heck, I might as well just update you now! I have been so overwhelmed this month in Operations, but it has been FANTASTIC!

Even though I’ve been losing my voice every week (will be explained later) and the temperature has dropped 20 DEGREES, I am enjoying every moment here in Shanghai. 

I’m not much for explaining what has been going on in my life other than showing you in photos!

This month began with a great concert from Black Violin at Mao Livehouse. Classical music mashed with hip hop. Following the concert, we made a little club hop adventure for ourselves, hitting up 3 clubs of which we will never return to again.




Next came a photo opportunity with former president Jimmy Carter…

Yeah…that’s me next to him! What a cute old man.


After Jimmy came THE GOVERNATOR. Yeah...ARNIE! I got to stand next to him in our group photo (that which cannot be found) and shook his hand after he called me a "Califohnia gahl".





Throughout the month a few of my friends participated in a pageant held at the expo: Miss Expo. My friend Mary Anne, who is an Irish American working at the USA Pavilion represented Ireland and won her heat! In the pageant finale, she won 3rd!




Outside of operations, a few of us at the USAP had been volunteering with Junior Achievement. It was an opportunity for me to see other parts of Shanghai and interact with the local Chinese. Junior Achievement is a competition where students from different elementary schools compete to produce an innovative product that would be sustainable in reality. Sadly, my little troupers didn’t win, but I thought they were great!


My cute kids!


To keep ourselves entertained in Operations, we give ourselves code names, dance in front of 50,000 visitors a day, and DRESS UP!

This was for Texas week!

Also, something that is entertaining is watching the Johnson & Johnson game in Act 3 of our pavilion.  Let me explain. J&J has a “game” where our visitors text “关爱” or “care” to the phone number listed, we give them a small gift. It’s a cell phone chain with a little bunny at the end, called a “Stevie”.
J&J was smart enough to have an “incentive”, which was giving the shift with the highest number of text messages in a week $500USD or if we win the month $1,000USD. 

Because of this outrageous amount of money (the prize goes far in China), each shift tries extremely hard to win! There are also rules. We can only announce the game in Act 2 and no megaphones allowed. This is why I have been voiceless for 3 weeks.  However, Week 1, we won! We were 4,000 texts above the 2nd place shift.  We used our money for go karting! Also, in Chinese fashion, the go karting place encouraged drinking and driving… it was a bar with go karting…





The day before our go karting adventure, we had operations shift dinner which I organized to be at Gintei – all you can eat and drink teppenyaki! The food was amazing and the restaurant has surprisingly fast service. Festivies are always followed by more festivities. Off to G Plus!





Speaking of amazing food, I have discovered the most amazing hot pot restaurant in the world. Hai Di Lao. They have fastest service in all of China (probably faster than what I have experienced in the states), they get you what you want before you even know you want it. Seriously.  Not only is the service impeccable, while you wait for your table/food you can get a FREE MANICURE. I am not joking. FREE LEGIT MANICURE.  I went twice in 3 days…



The way to end my week…3 days in a row at the Fake market.  I bought 6 pairs of pants, all electric and vibrant colors and 3 pairs of shoes. I’m sure they will show up on my facebook photos… Just like the pants below. Man, do I love the fake market.



Last note of happiness – the USA Pavilion staff party has been approved! Oct 12 is a PARTY IN THE USA! More details to come soon.

Hell yeah! Private room on the 4th floor of MUSE. This is how we roll.

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