I figured that you can't be a true traveler without the experience of trying to embrace the culture around you. Of course, I could use this space to write about what I love and hate about Shanghai but more to the point, its about what I am missing in Shanghai. Many people that live here skim the surface of this huge city without the language and you miss out on those classic moments. You only see one layer of an ever increasing complex and electric city.

I still consider myself on the move since we get out to new areas of China and are adventurous with friends when it comes to Chinese restaurants, arts and culture. What I don't think many people realize is that its quite easy to have a year go by in Shanghai and not learn a whole lot of Mandarin. Despicable! So,  I went to meet with my Chinese one-on one tutor Monica to solve the problem. 

Enthusiastically, I was off and running. Experienced the shopping joys of picking up my textbook(Chinese  instructions for my tutor) and was up to 8 hrs a week at one point thinking I was going to make the breakthrough of a lifetime. So many words and so many tones. We talked about the basics: asking for directions, days of the week, basic conversational tools and so forth. It's a learning experience with its up and downs but its always nice  to see the local side and the jokes you get to have with locals on the street when you throw out the wrong tones or the wrong words.

It's true that not everyone can be a language guru but you can do your part to try and keep the intellectual integrity of your trip by learning a few basics. There are also a couple of really good online learning resources such as Chinesepod and italki.