Week 6

Friday was an unusually exciting end to the work week as it began with a torrential rainstorm and ended with Karaoke! It seems we all had difficulties waking up Friday morning as storm clouds blanketed the sun and rain masked the construction noise that regularly begins at 6am. We were all a little confused about how to get to work since we have walked everyday thus far, but 1.8 miles is much too far to walk in the rain. Eventually we found our coworker from down the hall who we could tag along with to catch the bus. We had all heard and seen the downpour from our hotel window before we left for the bus, but were shocked to see a muddy river where our little Aomen Road should have been. The street was filled with colorful poncho clad people as they attempted to go about their morning routines despite the flooded street. Scooters, taxis, and bicyclists slowly passed by and people had to wade through the murky water because the sidewalks had disappeared. It seems nothing can stand in the way of the city buses as they defiantly plowed through the water, creating a large wake that lapped against the neighboring shops. There was no way out of our hotel besides through the water, and having a change of shoes in my bag and holding a canvas dress over my head as a makeshift umbrella, I made my way through the shin-deep murky river to the nearest bus stop. It looked like our street was one of the worst from what we saw that day and thankfully most of the rest of the city seemed to have properly functioning storm drains. By evening the flash flood on Aomen Road had subsided and things appeared to be back to normal.   

Our workday was cut short not only by the rainstorm which made us late, but also by an afternoon discussion/lecture session the company hosted for all of the interns. Although the majority of the dialogue was in unintelligible Chinese, it was nice to meet the Chinese interns and have a break from work. The company also organized a social outing afterwards at a nearby KTV (the local terminology for karaoke bar). As most are probably aware, karaoke is insanely popular in China and KTVs are easy to spot as they tend to be giant, ostentatious buildings brightly lit and reminiscent of Las Vegas casinos. This particular KTV was called PartyWorld and was the first and only KTV I have ever been too; I have never even done karaoke in the states! As is typical, our group of 15 got a small private room with a wrap around couch, some tables, and a large TV. Maracas, a couple tambourines, as well two microphones were also provided. I think the five of us Americans were all a little hesitant to start belting out tunes, especially in front of a group of coworkers, (1/2 of which we had just met), but our coworkers had no such inhibitions and jumped right in. The KTV offers a large list of Chinese as well American songs and it wasn’t long before we gave in to our coworkers’ encouragement and were queuing songs for ourselves. In case you are wondering, between the five of us we performed a nice selection of American hits including embarrassing numbers from Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber as well as classics like Hotel California and Hey Jude. I can now proudly say I have done karaoke and in Shanghai no less! Our coworkers were very gracious, complimenting us on our performances, although I think we lack the endurance and attention span of the Chinese KTV regulars. A coworker of mine was telling us about her love of KTV and how she recently did karaoke for 6 hours straight, and that was still not enough… I think one evening of KTV was plenty for us.

Saturday Misha, Tina and I did some more local sightseeing, starting with the Shanghai Museum. Visiting the museum requires traveling to People’s Square, which is the largest and most popular public square in Shanghai and one of the city’s most well-known landmarks. A number of prominent museums and public buildings are all organized together in a gigantic park setting and this complex constitutes People’s Square. The Shanghai Museum is one of the most famous museums in the city if not China, and is also free to visit! As an aspiring architect, I have to comment that the organization of this museum and its various collections was maybe the most orderly and easily navigable of any museums I have visited. The collections represented all things Chinese throughout the country’s unimaginably long history and included exhibitions of jade, furniture, currency, bronze, ceramics, and painting. We spent varying amounts of time in the different galleries depending on our interests and I found I was most intrigued by the calligraphy gallery. I have never seen so many different and beautiful variations of Chinese writing!

After the museum, we made our way over to Tianzifang Art Street, which a coworker of mine had recommended visiting. Despite its name, Tianzifang is more than just a street. It is actually a district of traditional longtang alleyways turned into design studios, boutiques, and cafes. The traditional architecture of Shanghai consists of small two story buildings clustered together along narrow alleyways called longtang. These crowded, mazelike alleyways serve a variety of functions beyond just circulation and are essentially the front and back yard of the residents as well as a place to socialize and even set up a small storefront. The longtang and their associated neighborhoods can be found in patches throughout the city although they are fast disappearing and being replaced by high-rises. The charm of Tianzifang is in the hodgepodge nature of the buildings and crooked alleyways and half of the fun shopping here is in the exploration.

I am sad to report that Sunday was not a fun-filled sightseeing day, but a workday for Brad and me. Right before our afternoon meet & greet with the other interns on Friday, Brad and I were surprised with a new project. A new design idea needed to be developed and modeled in 3D for a new twin-tower office/hotel/entertainment complex by Monday. At this point in our internship, we are fairly used to being given gigantic design projects and short deadlines but this was our first time having to work over the weekend, (although the majority of my coworkers spend at least one day of every weekend in the office). We allowed ourselves a late start Sunday morning, and were able to work on our computers from the comfort of our hotel which was also nice. All of our running around this last month and a half is finally catching up to me and a day inside sounded just fine, although working wasn’t my first choice for a relaxing Sunday. These hurried work assignments are a little frustrating because the limited design time we are given makes it difficult to develop strong design ideas and to really think through the details but it is also a very good exercise in time-management and efficiency. I think this internship has been one of the most eye-opening and educational of all of my work experiences thus far and I hope to maintain some of the quick decision making skills we have had to develop here.

I guess no one can feel too badly for Brad and I considering we were able to finish our model in time to celebrate with Misha for his birthday with a fantastic dinner followed by a hip little wine bar. It wasn’t the most relaxing weekend ever and I was definitely tired at work on Monday but I can’t complain, I’m in Shanghai!