Travel Plans on Hold

Some friends from Europe are coming to visit us sometime in late January or Early February. I am cool with that but the problem is, they have not decided yet on the exact dates. This keeps our plans to go to the Philippines on hold. If only they’d tell us when they’re coming, I can book our flights to Philippines already.

Like we did last year, we are visiting Philippines again. This time we plan to see Boracay or Davao but first, we have to go up north to visit some beaches where we could hold our planned second wedding. Yep, we are going to get married again but this time, we’ll do it in my lovely home country.

So anyway, I want our travel plans to be finalized because plane tickets and hotel rooms are not getting cheaper.

Inferiority Complex Attack

Emily, one of my Irish friends I mentioned in my earlier post, decided to stay in Shanghai to live with her boyfriend. I consider them friends because we spent a lot of time together in the last few weeks and Emily’s boyfriend is a colleague and friend of my husband. Emily’s sister Tina already went back to Ireland but Emily will stay for a few weeks then she’ll be flying back to Ireland to quit her job. That is just so grand. :)

So anyway, Emily called me and asked if we could have a coffee together sometime because according to her, she really enjoyed my company the last times. That was so nice of her to say but that’s something I didn’t expect. Emily has a managerial position in human resource of some British-Indian company and she is like 54 years old and she often talks about very intellectual things so you can just imagine my surprise when such person display interest in spending time with me.

I am no intellectual. I am just a simple woman who is living a simple life but being married to Marcus also means that sometime, I’ll be going to parties, dinners, and gatherings where I’d be spending time with people who have much wider knowledge and way more eloquent than I am. I always try to talk to these people and not just smile and be pretty (in short, look stupid) but sometimes I can’t help but feel tiny.

A Hot Pot Day

I was badly craving for steamed rice that day. Marcus knows that if I don’t get steamed rice in more than two days, I get grumpy. So that one particular day we agreed to walk around the neighborhood to look for a restaurant that serves steamed rice because there’s no way I am going to eat pizza, or pasta, or steak with pomme frites without eating rice first . And so I found one and it’s the first we’ve bump into. I was already very hungry and I refuse to walk another 5 minutes or so to find another restaurant so I insisted to just go in this place. This restaurant was not a very enticing but I am very sure that they serve rice so after a little persuasion, Marcus agreed to go in. It was a hot pot—the kind where they put this huge pot with soup and flavorings in the middle of the table with a burner and you just put the raw meat pieces, vegetable, etc. in the pot and let it cook.

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I ordered but Marcus didn’t. He said he is not hungry but he would like to get a cold coke to drink. So I ate alone and I ate with gusto even if I can feel Marcus’ disgust the whole time.

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Moon Cakes!

I found this on our table when I got home yesterday. It’s a moon cake and a short story about the Chinese Moon Festival. If I find the time, I might summarize the story for you because it is interesting. I remember when I was teaching, I got moon cakes enough to feed me until the next moon cake festival. They’re from parents of students and I was teaching 10 different classes with 60-70 students in each class… so imagine that!

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This year, we only got one from our apartment management and I think it’s enough because to be honest, I have nobody to give to (just in case we cannot consume them all) here in Shanghai.

The Olympics and All

beijing-olympics-20081.jpgFor the first time since we got here, we had a difficulty hailing a taxi!

Last night we decided to eat out with some of Marcus’ colleagues. The initial time agreed upon was 7:00 pm but because it wasn’t easy to get a taxi, we called the other parties to let them know we’ll be late only to learn that they’re having the same problem. The streets were almost void of cars and people which is weird considering that we are in Shanghai.

So anyway, it was only at 9:20 when we were able to start dinner and as expected, everybody shared their misfortunes in getting a taxi. After the dinner, we went to a nearby pub. The pub is full of people, foreigners and Chinese alike, and their attention was fixed on one thing: the screen. Yep. They were all watching the opening of the Olympics.

Funny, a few days ago we had a dinner together with Marcus’ Chinese colleague and his wife and the wife told me that a PANDA (yes, a Panda! The Bear!) is going to light the Olympic torch. I didn’t believe it for a second but she was pretty convinced and she explained to me that this particular Panda was trained for months to do the thing. So ok I said. We’ll see then. If it is going to be like this I bet my ass that it would be a FAKE panda (a panda mascot) otherwise the whole world will be seeing a barbecued panda.

So last night, we waited and yeah, no fake or real panda lighted the fire. Don’t remember who it was but I think the Chinese Olympic committee succeeded in making it a secret until the very last minute.

A Letter to my Tutor

Dear Eun Hye,

Hello! How are you and Larry? I hope everything is fine with you guys.

Marcus and I are okay. We arrived in Shanghai on June 30th and we stayed in a hotel for three weeks. Now, we found an apartment in Pudong District and. The apartment is smaller than what we have in Changchun but it’s nicer.

I have to say, I like Shanghai more than Changchun. Shanghai is super hot and polluted but life is way easier here. Most of the people here are able to speak English and there are a lot of things to do here …unlike in Changchun.

About my German… my exam (in Austria) is scheduled on October 5th. I was advised to finish all three required books (A1/1, A1/2, and A2/1) before I take the exam. We only finished 2 books so I decided to continue learning German here in Shanghai.

A fews weeks ago I went to a university to enroll for the A2 course but because I don’t have official certificate showing I finished A1 course, the university needed to check if I am qualified to take A2 course so they gave me some exams. The results were excellent! This means, I don’t need to go through A1! Thanks for again for tutoring me.

In other news, I think Marcus’ boss needs to talk to Larry about a job. Well, I am not sure. I just heard them talking (in German) about this and because my German is not that good yet, I might be wrong. But if I am right… well, it would be great to have you and Larry here in Shanghai.

So, I’ll end my email here. Nice greetings to Larry. Write me back because I am dying to hear from you!

Best regards,
Vienna

Checked Out

After 22 days of staying in a hotel, we were finally able to move in to our new flat!

I was so itching to move out of the hotel since there’s nothing I can do there. Sure, a lot of major pedestrian zones are easy to get to from the hotel but who wants to go out every day? Who wants to eat out every meal? For sure, I will never be that person.

I like being home and I believe that being in a hotel, no matter how luxurious the hotel is, cannot be compared to being at home. I like cooking and other things you can’t do in a hotel. Also, I am not comfortable about my laundry being taken cared of by other people. Imagine my horror when I imagined my laundry being done with other people’s laundry!? I don’t mind mixing my laundry with my husband’s but with strangers’ laundry!? Call me crazy but I really do have a problem with that.

I am glad that I got a month of clothing in my luggage so it was not a big problem not to do my laundry right away but with Marcus, it was a different story but it was okay since he doesn’t have the same problem like mine.

So anyway, I am just happy that we are now home and that our hotel days are over.

Welcome Me Back!

I am back but I am still not in the “blogging all day” mode. This is just a quick post to let MyPinkNotes.com readers that I am alive and I have so much to tell.

My “coming back” doesn’t mean Ruthi is going away so there’s no need for Ruthi’s fans to worry because you’ll get more of her here.

shanghai.jpg So anyway, I am now in Shanghai! My husband and I got here at around 5pm on July 1st and I cannot believe how hot it is in this city. Shanghai’s temperature is very different from that of Changchun even if these two cities are only 2 hours by plane away from each other. Also, I am amazed by the fact that a lot of people living in Shanghai can speak English. That makes it way cooler to live here than in Changchun. Somebody once mentioned that living in Shanghai is just a small upgrade from living in Changchun but I think that is underestimating Shanghai. Shanghai is more international and there are a lot of things to do here. Here in Shanghai you can find almost everything except maybe a gulp of clean air. Haha. Anyway, I am excited about living in and experiencing Shanghai. Actually, I’ve been here last year but only for a short time. And because Shanghai is just a few hours away from Manila, I am cool with the fact that my husband got a contract to work here for two years.

Okay, sorry to cut this short but it’s time for me to exit Starbucks and turn off my computer but don’t worry because I have two whole years to live here so you can be sure to read more about this city and about me in it.

Ciao for now!