It has been a long time since I have blogged about my amazing adventures. Since the start of the year 2010 I’ve been kept busy with little things here and there that somehow all added up to a lot of things here and there. The last thing I properly blogged about was when Michi visited in Shanghai back in December 2009. Since then ...
1. Christmas #2 in Shanghai. One of the perks of being a foreigner in China is that, if you’re lucky, you will get Christmas day off for a holiday. Christmas is not a government holiday in China and so it’s a regular work day for Chinese people. Since it Christmas Day fell on a Friday this year (2009), it was “yay - 3 day weekend” when I could have traveled somewhere in China for a quick weekend getaway, but instead I opted to stay close to home and rest up. Lisa and I attended Christmas service at Shanghai Community Fellowship and afterwards headed across the river to Super Brand Mall to get our hair done at Toni and Guy Academy. Yup, we opted to let them use our hair to practice on. Because we were too cheap to pay for our haircuts. The result? It came out fine..not perfect, but okay. Sushi was our Christmas night feast.
2. New Years Eve was spent grabbing dinner at Adobo (Mexican food) with Michelle and Brian. We ate and talked and then decided to walk back to their apt. We went through Xujiahui near Metro City and saw a crowd of people gathered there for a countdown and to see some Chinese celebrities. We didn’t see anyone famous so we sat and talked some more in the cold at a nearby park. The clock struck midnight as we were watching The Incredibles back at their apt. Happy 2010!
3. 2010 was also the first time I had ever been in China for Chinese New Year. Last year was the epic trip through SE Asia (Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, Hong Kong) with friends. This year I stayed close to home in Shanghai. Fireworks and firecrackers all day long. On some nights it would get really crazy because it was some god’s special night. On midnight of the first night, Karol, John and I were at the rooftop of the apt building watching our neighborhood explode when it started snowing (!) right at midnight. It also felt like I was walking through a battlefield at the ground level.
4. I was still teaching English to Chinese kindergartners. I love my kids, they are cute and so precious. A child’s innocence is something to be treasured while they still have it. Now that I’m not teaching them anymore, I’m finding myself kinda missing them. I hope to visit them sometime during the Expo.
5. Speaking of the Expo. That’s the reason why I’m returning to Shanghai. I’m going to be one of the Student Ambassadors at the USA Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010. What is the Expo? Remember back in the day when they used to have something called the World’s Fair? They still have them, they’re just not as popular as they were in the past. I sometimes refer to it as the Business Olympics or Cultural Diplomacy. China is making promises of it being the biggest and best Expo ever. EVER. I hope that it will live up to all the hype.
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