Busy Buddy

May 20, 2008 2 Comments

I consider myself busy these last few days although I still managed to watch two movies yesterday. Yep, “the Pianist” and “Kolya”. Both are very touching movies specially “Kolya”, I cried over “Kolya” although I didn’t cried as much as when I watched “the Kite Runner”, because “Kolya” have some comedy in it so it sort of balances the mood but with “the Kite Runner”—it is sad through and through! A real tearjerker and it gave me a very sad feeling for days!

I should properly write my thoughts on these movies in my thetwogeeks.com blog but I am too busy. Packing is taking so much of my time. We are leaving Changchun next Wednesday and we are heading to Austria. Not to live there but just for vacation. We will probably stay there for 3 weeks or more then after that, it will be Shanghai! Finally I can say for sure that we will stay in Shanghai for 2 years and I am excited about the things I could do in this time. I want to study and do blogging part time or I can start something with Anne who will move to Shanghai as well with her boyfriend, Daniel.

So, we will see what the next few months will bring.

Filed Under: Friends and Strangers, Holidays and Travel Tagged With: , , ,

Longer International Calls to India

May 3, 2008 1 Comment

Do you have somebody in India whom you need to be in contact with often like a love one or a business partner? Because if you have here is something to take advantage of. TrueRoots offers great international call rates, crystal-clear voice quality, easy connectivity, uninterrupted calling, and value-added conveniences. You my avail of their cheap but quality long distance call service to India. SO what are you waiting for? Get india calling cards from TrueRoots now for as low as $5 and enjoy longer calls to India!

Filed Under: Home and Family Tagged With:

Affordable Value for Valuable Calls

April 29, 2008 Leave a Comment

Have you heard about TrueRoots?

If not then you’re missing something specially if you are somebody living far away from your love ones. You see, TrueRoots is a long distance call service provider which offers great international call rates, crystal-clear voice quality, easy connectivity, uninterrupted calling, and value-added conveniences. Call India or other South Asian countries at very minimum prices . If your are a South Asian living in US, let not the long distance and the telephone service cost hinder you from keeping in touch with your beloved back home.  Visit TrueRoots.com now to learn more.

Filed Under: Home and Family Tagged With:

Quick News

April 29, 2008 Leave a Comment

Oh my, it looks like the chance of Marcus getting a job in Shanghai is not so slim like we thought it was!

He got a job offer and now he is waiting for the draft of the contract. After some negotiations, we will then head to Shanghai and we will stay there for two years!

That’s two more years of easy life. Haha. I should maybe go back to school in this time becuase it looks like teaching in Shanghai is not practical. Do some short term course about computers. If I could find a school in Shanghai that offers these kinds of courses and uses English as medium of instruction then I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t.

Now, I am thrilled.

Filed Under: Home and Family, Work and Business Tagged With: , , ,

Filipino Teachers in Shanghai

April 22, 2008 17 Comments

Until now we are not sure about our destination. Will it be Shanghai or Austria? The uncertainty is killing me but anyway, I was thinking that in case we move to Shanghai I should maybe go back to teaching. I am happy with blogging but would be happier if I can teach as well. I can teach in the morning and blog in the afternoon. Something like this would be really nice. So, I searched for teaching jobs in Shanghai but this is what I found:

With their wallets bulging, more and more wealthy Shanghai families are hiring Philippine maids to speak English with the kids, despite an official ban on hiring foreign workers.

Some rich Shanghaiese are willing to pay 6,000 yuan (750 U.S. dollars) a month to hire a Philippine servant with a college education background, much higher than the average salary of 3,000 to 4,000 yuan (375 to 500 dollars) that most Philippine servants can get.

Yep, looks like more and more wealthy Chinese are hiring educated Filipinos as maids or nannies. I honestly don’t know how to react. If I were single, I’ll probably consider getting this job. Why? Because of three reasons

1. You cannot get such salary by being a maid or a (professional) teacher in the Philippines.

2. Filipino English teachers in China are not in demand because of their color. Yes, Chinese people prefer blond-hair-and-blue-eyed red necks from an English speaking country over well qualified Filipinos. It’s totally racist but that’s life. Note: I am not saying that all Filipino teachers who come to China to teach are excellent teachers or that all white people who teach English in China are terrible and are unqualified teachers, I am just stating the fact that white people have a higher chance of get a teaching job in China than the brown island people.

3. If you are a Filipino and you are lucky enough to land a teaching job in Shanghai, you will probably not get a salary more than 5K RMB because you are a brown.

I know that by doing so I am damaging the market for Filipino teachers and I am sort of giving in to racism but given my three reasons above, who is there to judge me? It may seem like it’s all about the money but if you have a poor family back home who is counting on you, you’ll do it too. Anyway, I am glad that I am not put in the position where I have to choose whether to accept such job or not but this is to say that I do understand those Filipino professionals who stomach working as a servant.

Filed Under: Work and Business Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

This Spring

April 17, 2008 Leave a Comment

spring

I remember cursing this place, this city, and this country several times. There are a lot of things about it that I never seem to have gotten used to but some how it is sad that we are leaving this place soon.

The plan is we will move to Europe. Marcus already ordered boxes so we can start packing our things. There is still the possibility of living in Shanghai for a couple of years but that seems to fade each day so we might as well give up on that and prepare ourselves for Austria.

Marcus will take a month off after his current contract. We agreed to travel to nearby countries in this month before we finally settle down in some suburb somewhere in Austria. I am honestly not so thrilled about the travelling. I want to fix everything in the land of Sissy first because I feel that only then can I relax. For me, it is nicer to think that there is already a flat or a house we can come home to after travelling.

Filed Under: Home and Family Tagged With: ,

Just Another Sushi

April 15, 2008 1 Comment

I’ve been to Japanese restaurants a few times before and based on those few times, I concluded that Japanese food doesn’t agree with me. Other than the fact that those raw fish always give me a funny feeling in my stomach which will later make me running to the toilet, I also hate wasabi and anything that tastes and smells like it.

Last Saturday, Marcus had a craving for Japanese food and after convincing me that I needed a break from cooking and that I will only eat those that are cooked; he got me to agree to go with him. It was a nice medium size restaurant not far from where we live. Marcus has been there before with his colleagues so he knows exactly what to order. It’s a relatively cheap priced restaurant. For 200 RMB (20Euro) each person, you’ll get to eat and drink what you want and as much as you want. To cut the story short, we asked the lovely waitresses to fill our table with the best things they have.

 

in-japanese-restaurant

Before eating, we had our first shot of sake. I don’t normally drink alcohol but I learned to take a little sip every now and then. Marcus told me that the sake’s main purpose is to help in digesting the raw food and to me, it makes sense. It made me feel comfortable seeing the nicely sliced pieces of raw fish on the table and it removed my guilt about wanting to eat them. I took the chance, I drank more sake and ate a lot of fresh slices of tuna and salmon. We spent more than two hours in the restaurant and by the time we decided to go, we were not only full but drank like hell as well.

Filed Under: Daily Life, Usual Rants Tagged With: , , ,

Moving Soon

March 31, 2008 5 Comments

I have like a month and a half left to pack all our things and ship them to Europe. I hate it! Not Europe but moving in general. I hate the stress that accompanies it. I hate leaving a place (I meant our flat, not this country) and people I know and became friends with. I hate starting from a scratch somewhere where we don’t know anybody. Fine, Austria is a small country and Marcus’ parent’s place can’t be that far but still, we will be in a new neighbourhood with new people talking new language (for me at least). Sure, I can already catch some sentences when I am watching movies in German but I have a difficulty understanding Austrians. You see one funny thing about Austrians is the fact that even if they are able to speak high German, they refuse to and I don’t know why. If I asked my husband to talk to me in high German, he says something like “Alright, but only to you.”

I hope that it’s not that difficult to get them to talk in English.

Filed Under: Home and Family, Usual Rants Tagged With: , ,
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