June 10: First Impressions

Text and images by Ariel Bobson.

Wow, we all made it to China. Having kind of stumbled into this trip (which started as a “maybe someday” and evolved into buying a ticket and new suitcase) saying I didn’t really know what to expect is an understatement. After a somewhat rocky start which involved the cab driver dropping me off quite a hike from the apartment and pocketing my change, followed by a meal at a dim sum restaurant with a humbling communication barrier (granted, this could very well happen in New York) I’m getting incredibly excited about getting to live in a country halfway around the world with a culture parallel to the one I’ve grown accustomed to. Enough about my experience, being here for 2 days has already taught me that I’m a tiny little fish in a big pond.

Today we went on the most amazing run around the city with our tour guide, Henry. Born and raised in Shanghai, he has what seems to be an infinite amount of knowledge about every aspect of this gigantic city. The first stop was the textile market; a seemingly infinite stretch of stalls divided by vendor and featuring every sort of garment you could imagine wearing, specially tailored in any pattern you could want. From there we ventured on, with the French Concession, the Jewish ghetto (which was quite a scene with a group of us) and Jade Buddha Temple being the most memorable stops. So far, we’ve had quite a successful start to this strange and new journey together. I’d rather show you pictures than write a description about it. I’m not much of a writer, I’m a photographer.