Shanghai once again

So once again I'm in the city of Shanghai. I start feeling like I could update the guidebooks, or write my own. But more about this later. It's snowing, and a little depressing. We asked the cleaner where we should go when the weather is like that, and she said to stay in and sleep. And she pointed out that we have a TV so we can watch it. But I really wanted to show Shanghai to my mum, so we went out. First we went to the People's square (again) and although it was pouring with rain, I still really liked it. This time we discovered a Starbucks and had a nice coffee. Oh then we set out for the Shanghai Museum, which I have never seen before. Unfortunately, (here starts the guidebook) you can only buy tickets till 4am, and it was already 5, so we never got to see it. Normal tickets were 20 kuai, and student tickets were 5. I am very very disappointed not to have seen old vases and paintings. Then we took the metro to the Pudong area, and went into the big shopping mall. Even if you are set on spending money, a thin T-shirt for 400 kuai feels like a 'slight' exaggeration. So we went for food, and I must say that the place we chose wasn't the best choice either. Afterwards we were heading for the Jin Mao tower, and a bar on the 87^th floor. Jin Mao tower has 88 flors. And the 88^th floor is an observatory for 88 kuai. (88 in China is pronounced ba ba, somehow similar to bye bye, and therefore it's widely used online to say bye. Funny that in Europe it can mean Hail Hitler (H being the 8^th letter in the alphabet.) and neo-nazis use it.) That's just an interesting thing, I wanted to write. Well, so, on the 87^th floor there is a bar. You have to spend at least 120 kuai there + 15% service fee. The drinks they serve aren't outstanding, neither is the coffee nor the ice-cream. Surrounded by businessmen and rich people, it's easy to feel a bit 'out'. The bar's atmosphere is a bit scary, but definitely something worth experiencing. Being so high up, you can't really see down, Shanghai is a very polluted city, and you'd have to be lucky to experience a clear day. I don't really like the skyscrapers, I really prefer the pagodas and temples. Shanghai is a little bit pathetic I think. Showing the enormous economical success, building towers to show it's greatness, having expensive western shops, while there are beggars just around the corner from all this richness. And all I see is the huge economical gap instead of thinking 'wow, this city really is awesome'. No, I don't think so. And I don't think it will be able to impress me in a long time. But then, who am I to impress? I'm not sure a businessman, who gets to live in a hundred star hotel, on the 80^th floor is able to see outside the world he's used to. But hmm.. I got into this whole discussion with myself.

I hope this all doesn't sound too pessimistic. Even if I am rather disappointed, this day was a good lesson for me, and gave me a lot to think about.

But in the end, all I really want is just a nice, sunny, warm day to enjoy, and not to freeze.

I'm happy.

Yes, I'm finally done with them. Goodbye Bellamy. I wish you (the boss especially) all the worst. I hope that your shit company will reach the bottom, lose all the money, and you guys really suck, and the kids don't learn anything. Despite the obvious anger displayed in the last sentence, I'm not angry at all, I'm very happy that they will not cheat me again, that they will not order me to come in and work without getting payed.

I'm so happy now :) And my mum's coming tomorrow!! Yay :)

A big surprise today: It's snowing! Not just some little snow, but it's really snowing A LOT! Right now it's something like 4 cm snow. Since I woke up early, I feel like studying a bit. And THAT doesn't happen so often nowadays. ^^

The Holidays so far

It's Saturday. I know I haven't been writing here for a while so here comes a little update on what I've been up to. Unexpectedly, it started snowing in Nanjing. People say there was no snow the last years few years, so everyone is very excited. Even I must admit, that even though I hate cold and snow, this time, it's a nice change to the grayness and pollution. The last two weeks, I've been trying to do as much reading, learning, and overall staying in and not stressing too much about what's going on outside. I must say, that I'm impressed with myself. I managed to do a lot of things I have been missing, and I even went to some karate classes. I'm half way though a book (One flew over cuckoo's nest), I have been reading about photography (which is really interesting) etc. So even if I'm not traveling now, I've got the whole life in front of me to do that. I bet this is not my last time in China (if of course I'm meant to have a long life as opposed to a short one). So not having to go and do something every day is good for me.

Except for times when I miss home, my friends in England, Poland, and all those other things people miss when they realize they are alone in a country far, far, far away. Still, my mum is coming in a week, and another exciting adventure is about to start. Except for going to Beijing, I think I'll plan massages, manicures and all the things that make a woman look gorgeous and feel like a new-born (hopefully). Huhm... If that doesn't sound exciting enough, there is always the gastronomic side of China, which still remains undiscovered to travelers who come here with a guide and only eat in expensive, clean restaurants... We're going to eat side by side with the cockroaches, breathing in the smoke (because of course everyone smokes in China, in restaurants, malls, taxis, buses, all the other buildings).

Haha, we'll see how much of this will be true :P

Welcome to China Mum!! :D

Hangzhou and Christmas Report

Alex is here!!! :) We were in Shanghai 2 weeks ago... It was quite awesome. I finally realized I can get around in China using my Chinese. A fun thing ;) We went to see the Pearl Tower, the one I feared to go on with David. It was pretty cold and cloudy. So, you can go up two levels – to the middle or the top. The top is a really expensive trip, it's better to stick with the middle. It is definitely something cool to see, but it is quite boring and I'd have no interest to go there again. . .

What I always liked about Shanghai is the People's square. People can say whatever they want, that it's just ''one of t-h-o-s-e overrated tourist destinations'' but I really think it's impressive how beautiful it is. A park in the middle of a busy city. A perfect place to take photos. It just the clouds would let though some sun.

So well, we went to Nanjing. Nanjing is not interesting this time a year. It's cold, dark, rainy. Xinjiekou has a lot of cheesy (przypalowe) Christmas decorations, which all remind us that China is hosting the 2008 Olympics. We went to see the Confucius temple, but never actually made it there. It was nice, we hang out with David a couple of times, went shopping, to the photo machines. And the Mao Kong restaurant, and also FuckDonalds. A lot of times, which makes me almost embarrassed, as I am totally opposed to that company.

So Christmas was coming, and maybe spending it in Nanjing wouldn't be the best idea. We wanted a nice place and a pretty Christmas. So on the 23^rd we decided to go to Hangzhou. The same day we went to get train tickets (6 hours), booked a hostel and packed. So out train was leaving at 7am... It was so cold outside, but felt so good to leave Nanjing. 6 hours train ride was so totally no problem for me, as I had a great pillow ( ;P) So ok, we decided that there is no more sitting in. So on Monday when we came, we decided to go to the city center, as it was too late and everything else was closed. So we ended up in this posh area with Gucci and Rolex stores.. hm we went to a cafe called Honeymoon dessert. So we had a honeymoon dessert, which was really expensive, but it was definitely the best coconut milkshake I've ever had in my life.

Tuesday we went to see Linyin Temple, and we made this one little mistake of not eating breakfast, not wearing warm clothes, and not drinking coffee. (was that one or am I bad at maths?) It was really beautiful. Lo-ve-lyy. The most impressive was on temple where they had loads and loads of statues of monks. They all had a different 'style'. Some were laughing, some were looking angrily, some were gazing playfully, and some were examining the people walking past.

Alex is not a careful child and tripped and bumped his head and bent back a couple of his fingers.:O

So in the evening it was Christmas, when we came back from the temple we were so cold tired and hungry but we just passed out for a couple of hours. And when we woke up, Alex took me out on a Christmas dinner date to a place... Lou wai lou... When we saw it we were both speechless for like... several minutes. Coz it was a freaking place that I would imagine the president to take his wife out... It was totally cool. I've never been on a date in SUCH a place ;) And we ordered a couple of dishes: the speciality in Hangzhou, a fish in sweet and sour souce, which I loved so much that I think I ate it all :P Lotus root which was sweet (nice), chicken served cold (mmm), mushrooms which tasted like ohhhh, so good, a shrimp and other things dish... oh, it was all so good. And then we came back and I felt asleep, and I haven't slept that well for over a century.... oh..

and today it's already quite late so we should get going to see the West Lake.

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas party

Lessons learned (Ogolne wnioski)

If you are having a party, it can really boring, and really shit, but there will be loads of people as long as there is lots of food.

That's one lesson, and the second one is that no one actually treats me like a child anymore. I don't get the present, chocolates or anything from the Santa. I think that I look much older than I really am, because 1) I get to sit at the grown up table, 2) grown ups give me wine. I feel very old.

So I get to teach privately. It's two really cute kids, and a really nice family. I feel more like they want me to join their family rather than teach English. But that's really nice anyway.

But at the moment my life feels so so busy. Every day there is someone calling to meet me, someone invites me for dinner every second day. And there is such a clear symbiosis between me and those people. I know exactly what they want from me, as well as what they can give me. So I always feel like doing business. Good thing is, it's most of the time in a good atmosphere. Doesn't change the fact that I'm a grown up now, and I need to sort myself out. There are good things about being busy: not too much time to miss home, friends; there isn't that feeling of not doing anything. But a bad thing is that not doing anything is a luxury.

No more about my busyness, I'm sure there are plenty of you who are more busy. And, nevertheless, I still do have a life. (look photos)