spinninghead

Gah, Yangshuo is amazing!!! I LOVE it here here. I picked the perfect place to come on vacation, specifically the perfect hostel. I'm staying at Climbers Inn and I've connected with a great group of climbers from all over the world. We went climbing today and had a fantastic time! It's so breathtakingly gorgeous here and the climbers are really cool to hang out with. :) We went out for dinner and drinks together tonight, and then some of them had bought fireworks so we went out to the river and they set them off, and we went swimming. Swimming in the Li River, watching fireworks and fireflies is something I'm not going to forget. I'm so glad I have six days left here!!

It's been quite a while since I've updated in here, and I've just been procrastinating cos it always seems like so much is going on.

Well, now I have big exciting news so I figured I really do need to update! I am officially going to stay in Shanghai for one more year, decided as of today, because I got a job offer at a kindergarten that's in my apartment compound, and it will be a really good job. :) I think I'll just copy/paste the email I sent to my parents about it, with all the details, if you're curious to know more:
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So, there you have it. I went in to do a demo this morning and it went great - they provided me with a book to read to the kids, and caught me up on what the kids are meant to be learning, so I was given plenty of information to go on, unlike what happened at a demo I did at another kindergarten (where I wasn't offered the job), so it seems really good. Right after the demo this morning, a teacher who had been watching (the one who has been at the school the longest) said that he thought I was a shoo-in, which felt REALLY good, and then this afternoon I received a phone call from the Director of Studies saying that they were going to offer me a contract!

Have you ever walked into a place that was a potential employer, and just had it feel *right*? That's how this felt the first time I walked in. It just felt right. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I found myself thinking, "I am going to work here." And it's happening. :)

Okay, job news aside. I have still been dating here and there through okcupid, and it's going all right. Dave ended up deciding he didn't want to keep dating me after 5 dates, and I'm not really sure why, but whatever. In the past couple of weeks I've seen two different guys from the States. One guy seems nice and like we have fun together, but less like he really cares to get to know me that well or see me often (we have seen each other about once a week so far). The other guy I just met this past Tuesday, I've already seen twice and he seems to be very interested in getting to know me and we've been having a lot of interesting and thought-provoking conversations, which is awesome. He definitely seems like he's the type to look for a relationship rather than just dating, though I might not mind that as long as we take time. He's my age and he's pretty cute, and he's been in Shanghai for five years(!) working as a success coach. Pretty cool, I say.

Other excitement lies ahead as well, if the new job and dating wasn't already enough! This Tuesday (in THREE days!) I'll be leaving Shanghai to visit Yangshuo and Guilin!! It's just starting to sink in that I'll be going so soon. I'll be there for a whole week so I'll have plenty of time to relax and take everything in, and figure out what I'm doing, since I'm going there alone! Should be amazing and I'm definitely going to take lots of photos. :D

Anywho, I believe that's about all my news for now! I will try to update more regularly again, though I am busy so I can't promise. But I hope you're still reading if you're still my friend on here. I am still reading your posts!

I love myself. I'm proud of who I am and what I've accomplished. I feel better about myself and my life right now than I have in a long time. And I'm on the verge of change... but enjoying every second of the ride. I love being me.

Only two more days before I go back to SF to visit! I am getting more and more excited with each task I'm finishing that I had to get done before my trip. Today I presented my workshop at the Teachers' Conference and I felt like it went really well. I was extra proud of myself after then going to two other teachers' workshops and seeing that mine was superior to theirs in a few ways (not to toot my own horn, but still.) The teachers who came to my workshop seemed to receive it well and I felt pretty calm for most of it. :)

Tomorrow I'm going in the morning to get my hair brightened up (I'm thinking a more coppery red this time), and then I'm going over to the old city by Yu Gardens to shop for some souvenirs to take back to friends in the US. Should be a fun day. :)

Then Thursday I just teach two classes, though one of them will be observed by my boss for my appraisal. Hopefully that goes off without a hitch. After that, I'll be free to go home and pack, and stay up all night until my flight! I have to be at the airport at 5 AM, so it doesn't make much sense to go to sleep that night. My plan is to stay awake until I leave Hong Kong (where my connection is) and then knock myself out with some NyQuil and possibly some Benadryl if the NyQuil doesn't work alone. I'm planning on sleeping for the entire flight... if I wake up, I'll just take more medicine and go back to sleep. :P Hopefully this works, cos once I get off the plane, it'll be about 11:35 AM on Friday still (crazy time difference) and I'll be going dancing all night that night. Fun fun!

I also plan on trying to leave the airport for a bit while I'm in Hong Kong for my layover. It's about a 4-hour layover, which should leave me a little bit of time to leave the airport and explore the city a bit, especially since there's a high-speed train that takes people from the airport to the center of the city in about 20 minutes. Should be fun just to wander and see what I can find of interest in Hong Kong. I'll try to do some research beforehand and see if there's anything specific I should try to do, but I think with my limited amount of time, just wandering aimlessly might be my best bet.

Oh, also: I'm going skydiving with friends on the 28th. :D :D :D

Eeee, excitement!

I didn't even realize until about half of the day was over, that it was Pi Day. I decided upon realizing this to text Rachel, a friend of mine from work who moved here two months ago from England, to see if she had found and good pie places in Shanghai, since apparently English people eat pie all the time. (Why was I unaware of this before, and why do Americans not do the same??)

Anyway, she said she does know of a place, but didn't have the money to go today. I told her it was Pi Day and she thought I had made it up, lol. Anyway, I still really wanted pie and didn't have any plans for the rest of the day, so I told her I wanted to make pie here at my flat. We quickly cooked up a plan (no pun intended!) to have her meet me at my metro station and to go back to my flat and make pie.

I looked in Carrefour and Tesco, and neither one of them had pie tins or rolling pins, so we improvised. For a rolling pin, I was able to use a glass soda bottle I had sitting around. :) And originally we were going to use this 9" round tin she brought with her, but this ended up being a bit too big for the amount of pie crust dough that the recipe yielded. So I got out these foil loaf pans I bought when I first moved here, but never used (cos I got a real loaf pan) and decided to use these. It worked perfectly!

Rachel was amazing and cooked all the stuff to go inside, which consisted of chicken, mushrooms, onions and a bit of broth type stuff with chicken boullion. This pie turned out epically good. And then we made a dessert pie with strawberries and blueberry jam. It turned out quite liquidy because of the jam, but we just spooned it into bowls and enjoyed. It was delicious.

I was amazed at how great everything was, because it was my first time ever making pie crust. It really turned out amazing.

We were trying to figure out why Rachel had never heard of Pi Day before and yet so many of my friends talk about it, and finally it dawned on me - Americans write the date as 3/14, while British people write it 14/3. This has to be the reason why it's pretty much only Americans talking about it. Nonetheless, Rachel loved Pi Day and we had a great time.

Cinnamon also came home in time to partake, and she seemed to enjoy it. It was quite a lovely time. :)

I feel like I've finally got a real friend, and it's pretty exciting. Rachel is awesome and we have fun just being dorks together. :P I think that's what it is, though - so many foreigners I've met here feel like they're either kind of cold or just trying to be too cool. I'm a dork and I don't really care if people judge me for it. :P

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I think we're definitely going to be making pies together again soon. :D

The weather has been unbelievably gorgeous today! Sunny and about 63 degrees, it's like being in San Francisco again!

Yesterday I picked up Shannon's and my traditional Chinese dresses and they are beautiful! I modeled mine today for Rudy on Skype and he likes it. :) Only sad thing is that the frogs are difficult to do and undo, and I ended up snagging a bit of the fabric on one of them. :/

I went out to Carrefour today to do some much-needed shopping. I got some spring/summer slippers, since I didn't have any yet, a pair of cute flip-flops, and I got a lighter blanket for my bed since this thick duvet from IKEA isn't going to be comfortable much longer. I'm so giddy to be buying springtime things! I hadn't realized how much I really missed this weather.

Of course, we're going to get more rain. Throughout this week and next week, we will have a few days of rain here and there. But at least the permanent dark grey sky is gone. We have sunny days in between the rainy days, so I can deal with a little rain. :)

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Okay, now to find some excuse to go back outside...

Got my hair colored and styled today! It was my first time actually getting an all-over color done professionally, and I'm really glad I did. I'm fed up with trying to do it myself and having problems with it. Gillian, my stylist, suggested I go with a semi-permanent dye, so it's not as hard on my hair and it won't get all blocky as it grows out. I got exactly the color I wanted, and she styled it and trimmed a bit in the front. :)

Booked my flight to San Francisco!! :D

Cinnamon is not only really nice and easy to live with, but she works for Oakley, and she just gave me a pair of Oakley sunglasses (for free!)

Materialism aside, she is really sweet and, obviously, generous. My experience living here in China wouldn't be nearly as good without her. I wish I could take her with me back to the States!

P.S. When I got home tonight, the apartment smelled like bacon. She was making sandwiches and let me have one for dinner. :D

First tutoring session with Wendy was a success! It was really fun talking with her (she's really talkative and cute) and I got her to start reading The Babysitters Club series, and she's really enjoying it so far. Yay!