Chinese Jordan: The First Days in Shanghai

Misty and muggy were my first impressions of Shanghai. It's summer, it rains everyday, and I question the necessity of showers. Although my luggage was left in Canada, I was happy to see that an EF Greeter was there and was a pleasure to speak with. On a side note, I did not have a change of clothes with me (a cardinal sin for travelers), which meant that was the 4th day of wearing the same clothes (ewwww). Having slept from 6 pm yesterday until 5 am today, I was eager to explore the city. Armed with my umbrella and backpack (and smelly clothes), I hit the streets to find food. The food of choice for breakfast is a crepe-looking meal called danbin, which ran about $.80.
Mother, hemp, horse, scold. Depending on your tone of voice, "ma" can be any one of those words. Romance languages seem so simple compared to Chinese.
Friendly people. Later on in the morning, I walked downtown to the Shanghai History Museum at People's Park, and I was approached by a young-Chinese couple here on vacation. They invited me to tour the city with them for the day, so I kindly accepted. We had a blast! We toured The Bund (Shanghai's most famous street), Yuyuan Gardens, Nanjing Road (the main shopping area), and downtown.
After we parted, I was approached by another Chinese-man that was in the city on business from Beijing. We walked together down Nanjing Rd. and found a Starbucks, and he was kind enough to buy the drinks so we could practice English.
The Szechuan Experience. Fortunately, a Szechuan-style restaurant is next to my hotel, so I ventured into that for dinner tonight. With a surprised look, the waitress approached my table, then more 3 giggling waitresses soon joined us. The attention was flattering as they teamed-up to interpret my sign-languaged food order, but they were probably gathering to witness my lack-luster attempts at Chinese. The food had tons of bones in it...because I was eating chicken feet. I don't know what it is, but apparently "I'm American, come talk to me" was on my forehead because I was soon joined by a drunk Chinese man who poured himself some beer, gave me a cigarette, and proceeded to mumble Shanghainese. Awkward would be an appropriate description of our five-minute bonding experience. So, I wanted to break the ice. "Gang bei," I initially exclaimed, after which I recited (ok, yelled) the cheers for "The Man Show," "ziggy-zaggy, ziggy-zaggy, hoy, hoy, hoy." He obviously had no clue what this intriguing white man was saying, but he joined in the fun.
Overall, I am very impressed with Shanghai. And to warn you all, my charades skills are improving with every moment that passes, although it comes at the price of my slowly deterioratign self-dignity.