Came off the plane and customs was no problem, Kim was so wonderful she was right at the gate waiting for me with beautiful flowers.

Another Au Pair from Germany took me for my first trip to the city, she has been in Shanghai for a little over two months and she said she is so happy to be with her host family. We went to the Bund for my first time, it was so amazing to see the classic skyline and it really drove home that I was so far away from home and in a totally new culture.

I went to explore some of Shanghai’s highlights; TianZiFang and the Jing’an Temple. It was lovely to get the freedom to walk around Shanghai and know I could contact Kim if I got lost or needed any help. Shanghai isn’t the scary place I thought it would be, everyone is so friendly and happy to help you learn some Chinese if you are open to make mistakes.

For another of my holidays I decided to go to the Shanghai museum, I thought about bringing my host child but she had a class. I love getting to know the cultural diversity behind China’s decisions, especially as a University student, I think I will like to go to more culturally traditional spots. We had an excursion to the Fake Market so I could try my hand at bargaining in Chinese and get some souvenirs; we had a really fun time trying to find a Chinese phone case and trying to figure out what my picky sister would like.

I learnt a new word “Lao Wai” meaning foreigner, “Lao” meaning ‘old’ as in “Lao Shi” and “Wai” meaning ‘outsider’ as in “Wai Guo Ren”. Some people look at us because we are not Chinese, but I say “Lao Wai lao wai” and we all smile.

The Subway was much less scary than I was thinking it would be - we don’t have any subway or metro lines in Canberra, only busses and taxies. Kim gave me a spare metro card and it is so easy to use and even top up if it is low. There are maps everywhere and a good app called “MetroMan” that shows you where every metro goes and what you can see there. The first place we went was the Bund!