Day 13: Nanjing to Shanghai

In the morning I got up early with another girl on the trip to walk around the lake in Nanjing.  There were no tourists there so we got to see a lot of the local people.

The locals were looking at these two strangely as well.

Lots of lotus flowers

After breakfast we headed to the Nanjing Foreign Language School.  Many of the students had been to St. Louis for an exchange program with SLU High.  The NFLS is considered a very prestigious school in China.  The students told us that at their school there is an emphasis on democracy.  They have a student union and there is an election to determine who serves.  They offered many sports including soccer, basketball, football and field hockey.

Outside of the school.

Students sleep during class in all countries.

Courtyard. This student is not sleeping.

Student artwork

Student artwork

With our tour guides. Both of these students had been to SLU High.

One interesting difference between this school and American schools is that the students don't typically change classrooms....their teachers do.  I'm sure a lot of my students would like us to change to that policy.

When asked about the future of China one student quoted an ancient Chinese philosopher and said "Tolerance is much more important than freedom."

In the afternoon we took a bullet train to Shanghai and once there saw the Shanghai Acrobats.  Probably the most frightening thing I have ever seen in my life.  You can look them up on youtube.

Train station in Nanjing

We rode first class. Best bathroom on the entire trip.

Countryside flying by.

Apple store in Shanghai.

Along an alley in Shanghai

This food must have been really good.

The only time during our whole trip I saw bikers with helmets on.

Waiting for the acrobats to come risk their lives for a few hours of entertainment.

Shanghai at night.

That night we learned how to play Chinese Chess which is similar to American Chess but incredibly difficult since all the pieces are labeled using Chinese characters.  We had to look them up.