Shanghai!

So I am realllly liking Shanghai! I haven't even seen most of the city but already I am familiar and comfortable in the neighborhood I am in, and the subway system, which is great (easy, clean, air conditioned). I have explored a few other markets and sights, but there are not as many cultural and historical sights to see here as in Beijing or in some other big cities.

Went to the EXPO yesterday- it was awesome! Benny and I got up early and made it to the EXPO by..maybe 10 am? We bought mini stools to sit on (for a buck fifty), thinking they would come in handy when we had to wait on long lines...We ended up barely waiting on any lines! Except for Pakistan, but that took like 15 minutes...and it was moving. In most cases, we would casually walk up to the VIP entrance, smile, say hi (in their language if we could), talk excitedly about the country, or show our passports and get ourselves let in almost immediately, avoiding lines that had people waiting for anywhere from 1 - 4 hours! We went to Israel first, but I barely even got to open my mouth to say 'shalom' to the guy when he waved us in! Other places I had my passport out ready to show that I had been to their country once, or to pretend that I had, or who knows, but mostly it didnt matter, many places I just smiled and they let us right in! Middle eastern countries, Poland, Belgium, to name a few...

It became clear quite quickly that the purpose of the EXPO, of all these displays of all the countries, big and small, around the world, was to let Chinese people who would never ever have a chance to actually visit these places, "see" them and learn about them. Backdrops of gorgeous scenery and cultural landmarks lined some pavilions so people could pose in front for pictures, as if they were really there. It was interesting how each country portrayed itself to the Chinese. At each pavilion you visit you can get a stamp in your "EXPO passport," apparently an EXPO passport with a stamp from every country could go for a lot of money online. For others, I'm sure its just a cool memento..I picked up tons of pamphlets and brochures and any kind of memorabilia, including some silly stuff that I actually spent money on...it was fun and I enjoyed talking to the people.

Many of the structures looked very cool, very imaginative and artistic designs, I got some pretty cool pictures.

The final pavilion we checked out that day turned out to be the best- Latvia. We went in and Benny knew beforehand that there was a wind tunnel inside and a questionaire to fill out. He said his friends had come here and if you picked a particular answer on the questionnaire, you would get to go flying in the wind tunnel! So we went through the questionnaire, and both picked the same answer, thinking it was fixed...but it turned out to be completely random, so Benny did not win...BUT I DID! We were so surprised and they let us both go! So we went and got suited up in a full body jumpsuit, earplugs, goggles, helmet, shoes, had a quick lesson, and then got to go freaking flying in a vertical wind tunnel! So that was really really awesome. After that we were quite exhausted and decided to call it a day, we had spent a good 6-7 hours at the EXPO and I think it hit 90 deg that day.