And the verdict is...."at least I didn't sink"

So as I mentioned in my last posting, today was a day of so called “sinking or swimming” and over all I would say I showed off a stroke or two.  Myself and some other students arose from our slumber pretty early to meet with Aisha, our student translator at 9AM in the lobby…where after a few small bumps in the road, so to speak, we hopped in a cab and headed over to Fudan University.  As soon as we arrived I would say all of us were a little taken back by the peacefulness of the campus.  It really was an oasis away from the hustle and bustle of the crazy Shanghai city life, a lot of greenery, peaceful gardens, waterfalls and beautiful buildings (if you would like to see pics I will make sure to post some under the Photos page of the Blog).  Of course after numerous ohhhs & ahhhs followed by photo-ops, Aisha reminded us of the purpose of our journey, the job at hand…reporting!

She introduced us to some great students, full of knowledge and enthusiasm to share.  There were five different students in total, each one with a different perspective and story to tell, luckily each one of them was very eager to talk to me about my topic of the One-Child Policy or as they would refer to it as, the family planning policy.  Of course, I will not tell you what they had to say…you will have to tune into the final two hour program on WILL this summer…BUT I will say that each student was so willing to talk about where they came from, what they believed in and their future plans for their own families.  Some females students wished to have a lot of children, because they themselves were lonely as a kid, some others did not wish to have any kids at all once they married, and one particular student said she didn’t even want to get married for fear it would jeopardize everything she has worked so hard for in her educational career.  As for the male students, “more is better.”

After talking to the students Aisha took us to go get lunch on “pedestrian street” on campus, and it was very good except I am still not use to the food, especially seeing my food looking back at me (this place had a dead duck hanging in the window, head and all).

Food aside, I would say one of the highlights of the day for me was getting the chance to talk to elders of the Shanghai community at what they call a “care home”, and what we would call a nursing home.  Aisha was nice enough to go to this particular state run facility the day before to warn them of my arrival, and negotiate for my interviews.  Keeping in mind this home is run by the state, the employees she talked to were not to keen on me talking to any residents that didn’t like being there, so it was three women who did or zilch…I kindly said three please.  I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to talk with these three older women in their 80’s, all who loved living there but were placed there for very different reasons, with very different family situations.  I, again, don’t want to spoil anything for you, so instead I will tell you what the placed looked like…it felt a lot like what an old hospital would, very hard, cold and echoey, nothing like the more homey nursing home versions of America.  The beds are smaller than a twin, and only called a bed in the technical definition that someone actually sleeps on it…it is more of a foam pad on top of a wood box.  Three sleep to a very small room that ironically has a pretty large TV.  Either way, all judging aside, these women were all very lively, alert, friendly and very insightful.  (pictured below)

Overall I would say today was a good day in the water…lots of swimming!

*Please excuse any errors…like grammar or random rambling…it has been a long day and I am VERY tired!!*