hmmmm

Just realized that I have blogged quite abit recently... This shot is just another noraml thing that happens on a normal day here in Shanghai... It was taken while I was waiting for the Taxi on my way back... Environmentally way to move a fridge????

I forgot to update all of you on what I got up to for my birthday... Had to take the photo of the moon it was just so pretty that night... Well my birthday was a busy day.... For starters, I had food poisoning which was not a nice feeling... Went out for a really expensive buffet lunch as I had only an omelette and a waffle (125 yuan)... Afternoon tea was unusual as it was a prim and proper English afternoon tea with the fine bone china tea cup and the three tier cake server... LOL yes I had to have some sort of treat!... Dinner was with friends at a Hot pot restaurant... Yummy but would have been better in winter when it was cooler.... All in all it was a brilliant day and thanks to all those people who made my day special....

wat one gets up to

It is the weekend and as usual I am out and about exploring... Went to Xin Tian Di yesterday as well as the Yu Gardens... The weather was cooler which helped... Wan Hing and I queued for more than an hour at hte Yu Garden for Xiao Long Bao... They were not too bad and at 12 yuan for 16 it cant go that far wrong can it?

Went out with Lawrrence and Wendy today and we went to People's Square to have a look around and they took me to this 1930's replica of Shanghai which was really neat.. After that we went off to the Arcade to play some games.. It was really funny... I was happy to watch as I know my hand eye coordination leaves a lot to be desired... But was "forced" to do that dancing gamewhich was a laugh... as I could not get my feet in the right position either...  Then we attempted to pick up a Pluto soft toy which was a laugh... Lawrence was so determined to get it for Wendy but sigh... after about 8 attempts we had to surrender in fits of laughter... 

Now back to the reality of the week ahead of me... Time to hit the sack....

The End

It is the end of the Beijing Olymics games... It has been a great games and it is an experience being in the country while the games are on... I have enjoyed watching the opening ceremony and it made me feel proud to be a Chinese... They have done an amazing job and with all the memories and history... One World, One dream is so true.... Now will have to wait 4 years to see if London can pull off something as amazing as this....

reinventing the wheel

It is the first day of the new semester... I did not have any classes today so I spent the day planning and working on other things... This included going down to the Early Childhood Department to work out what I am going to do there... It has been a busy day to say the least... 

I have so many different ideas and plans that I would like to try with the children but I am not sure... Guess it always safe to say never rock the boat or try to reinvent the wheel... Just will do my best still... 

The only real and tangable problem I am facing at the moment is that my left knee is not in a good place... I am struggling when I climb down the stairs and I literally have to hop down the stairs in pain... Sigh... think I am finally growing old... 

I am really amused by the weather here... It was really sunny and hot this morning but by mid day, it was pouring with rain and it just came down which causes little floods here and there... When it stopped, the weather was even hotter than before... even the bus drivers were commenting about it... we all concluded that the best time to rain is in the evening or nite as it really cools things down and clears out the air...

Anyway... but to my night life of planning and drst....

Photos and such

Where did the weekend go??? It is Monday again... One thing I have learnt here is the ability to tell the start of the working week from the end of the weekend... Simple... On Sunday, the streets around here are full of street vendors... On Monday they all magically disappear only to reappear from Tuesday onwards... Rational, it is the start of the working week and the officials have to be seen as doing the right thing so they basically go round in their transport rounding them up and doing what they have to do...  But it doesn't last for long thats for sure...

Anyway... here is the link to the photos... 

http://picasaweb.google.comjoylim101/shanghai

Enjoy

I survived

Okay... it is the weekend... Am suppose to be sleeping in.... But alas am awake bright and early... Guess it is ok... 

Well this week has been a blur as it has been planning meetings, team meetings, staff meetings, team building, training sessions... Must say that it has been a long week.... Have to let all the dust settle before I get  everything...

It has been raining quite a bit... Thunderstorms to be more exact... they usually roll in around lunch time and with the loud claps of thunder that rumble... then comes the lightning which you cna literally hear and see wich flashes so brightly... As quick as they come, they dissappear very quickly too... 

But I was caught in one last night... Went to top up my mobile (been using it too much)... the walk is not bad but think the hazzards make it more interesting...  Other than the bicycles, the motor bikes, the taxis, the cars that turn even though the light is red... The other challenge is that the pavement material they choose to use here is so wet unfriendly... I mean they are slippery and a hazzard to walk on... I have slipped so many times that I have lost count... and they use it everywhere right up to the foot of my building... why use smooth granite looking tiles  without any grip???

Right time to head out to explore Shanghai some more.... Till next time...

Sry

Sry about the long silence... I have been in Shanghai for a week and a half now and today is the first day I have been able to get my internet in my apartment... Well it has been such a busy time for me that I would not even know where to start...

Let's see, I arrived to a wet and humid Shanghai on the 3 Aug... Was greeted and the airport and got on the bus to get to the apartment... That was well and good.. the apartment is nice and mordern enough... But lo and behold, a few days later I suffered a flood- actually it was 2 floods... One was from the washing machine- my nice neighbour down below felt that the noise from the washing machine is not user friendly and decided to cemement up the drainage hole... So hey presto a free wash of the kitchen floor... Yup kitchen as the laundry is in there- who would be sleeping in the kitchen anyway???? 

My next flood as in the shower... the water came up and never went down as the drains were clogged... So two floods within 24 hours was just a little too much for my tiny system to bear... But grin and bear it I did...

Then it was training days and that was fun... I sat a lot that I could just feel the fat growing... But all was well once the weekend came as then I had time to shop! Things are pretty expensive here and there are a lot of creature comforts I am missing- from a simple can of soup to the ore complex breakfast cereal... I can't get over the fact that things are written in bilingual over here and it just seems so weird to me still... I am really hopeless at the script...

We had a team building session yesterday and it was The Amazing Race YCIS style... We were arranged into our "working" teams and had to race all around Shanghai basically... this gave us the chance to see the sights... See it was and my team was really out to win and we literally ran all around Shanghai - in and out of the crowds, dashing across the roads and not getting into any accidents... trust me the rule of the thumb here is never cross when it is the green man...

Oh and as part of the game we had to eat food from a different culture- It was a vegemite cracker for the Chinese teachers and a soy sauce chicken foot for us... yuck yuck yuck... that confirms it, I will never eat it again... It was foul.... Wonder why it is a delicacy??? It is just about enough to make me go vegetarian....

Hence this morning I awoke to find muscles that I didn't know existed in my body and I have legs that are so sore ... I literally had to use my hand to lift my leg so that I could sit cross legged... how bad is that???

Other than that, life is good... I will post the photos once i get them all sorted....

Time to move

The time has arrived for me to move once again... I have just packed all my bags off to the airport and it was a grand total of 105.8kg... That is 5 bags full of stuff... Loos like i moved everything except the kitchen sink...  The reality of moving up to Shanghai has finally set in.. .

One thing I am going to miss is Jersey... He knows that some change is in the wind and has been rather hard to predict at times... But well it is not hte end of the world as I will be back some time to spend time with him... That I can't wait for...

The past few weeks have beem a flury of activity and it has kept me really busy... Have been having a really great time...

Guess the next time I write will be from Shanghai and that is really out in the world....