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Upon taking a visit to the Shanghai magnet elementary school, where the children are immersed in English most of the day, truly gave me hope for the new generation of English learners. Most off the Chinese people that I've encountered (for some reason I'm still not sure of) have a very difficult time pronouncing and using English. However the 5th graders that I visited truly spoke great English, without effort. It made my heart smile to see that, if it is possible to conquer a language like English after learning Chinese... then the inverse must also be true ;) They put on an array of performances demonstrating their English speaking ability, as well as little dances and such to welcome us to their school; it was so cute! Of course( I don't know how I get myself into these types of things) the children started playing American music and asked my classmate and I to dance... which I can't do, haha! But I do do Kung-Fu ;) at least well enough for the children to not  "boo" me off the stage. My dilapidated Kung-Fu show seemed to placate their desire for performance, we were thanked with cheers, hugs, and a flurry of English and Chinese sentences. I have high hopes for these kids in the future. 
After this fun visit, a friend and I saw Kung-Fu Panda 2 in the Super Brand mall, at a very good price ¥50 ($9 or so; usually it's about ¥150)... and ya it is totally worth seeing :)


Shanghai Urban Planning center-6.16.2011

The next day, in the advent of our last day in Shanghai, we went to the Urban Planning Museum. I have to say though, after seeing the way Shanghai is laid out, these guys had, and still do have, their work cut out for them! It was a pretty cool sight though to see a model of the city and their idea of what Shanghai will look like in the future. I have a theory as well, because just as the Olympics left Beijing, the world Expo was revived... and forgotten in Shanghai, leaving all these advancements and amenities, on a cliffhanger. What's next? How will the city change? 
It is my belief that Shanghai will(after it's post-expo lull) will go into a renaissance-creative boom. Just like Beijing did a year or two after the Olympics. Obviously these observations are just that, and not necessarily founded on anything concrete... but that is my hunch, and my intuition has usually been quite correct. Regardless, here are the pictures of what the city is supposed to look like... or will. :) Who knows...

Chic Corporation

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After our perusal around the Shanghai Urban Planning museum, we went to an agri-business company named Chic. It was an absolutely intriguing exposé  on a company that is dedicated to quality assurance, best practices in mostly farming, but also in medical, real estate, and manufacturing. Their sustainability and eco-township models were beyond impressive, and basically a bunch of jargon that you non-business majors wouldn't understand ;p haha just kidding! It was inspiring though. Especially since the Chinese government has reformed its economy, it is still struggling with problems in the farming country. Companies like these are the future for areas that are still developing in farming, and for eventual mega cities like 重庆(Chongqing) and 成都(Chengdu). If you're interested in information about this company, I invite you to visit their website, here. Miss you all, love you all. See you soon :) 

bryant
6/24/2011 08:45:15 am

did they tell you what was planned for the expo grounds?

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Jennifer
6/30/2011 08:40:54 am

I MISS YOU!!! hope your having fun & being safe!! The txting isnt working. =(
I love you!

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    My name's Jeff Kaemmerling. ;p Most of you know me, so just follow along :).

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