I'm going to Shanghai :)

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I now have solid plans for my upcoming vacation. I’ll be getting on a bus to Shanghai at 7 PM on Sunday evening, and staying there for about a week. I’m going with two of the other teachers at the school, and for the most part I’m letting them decide on what sites we go to see. What I’m really excited about is getting to see my friend Lindsay. She was an EF student on the Marymount campus two years ago, and I used to tutor her in English. When I said goodbye to her I more or less resigned myself to the idea that there was a good chance I wouldn’t be seeing her again. I’m absolutely thrilled that things worked out differently than I expected at the time.

The act of buying the bus tickets took the combined efforts of four people. I had the money (for some reason a lot of the people here didn’t think to convert their money into Yuan before coming to China. Anyway, the two people that I bought bus tickets for are paying me back when we get paid at the end of the week.), another person had the Chinese skills, and another was suitably stubborn to make the rest of us stay and try to purchase *some* kind of tickets even though the guy at the front counter told us all of the trains were full practically before we opened our mouths. The main difficulty was that when we asked for tickets to Shanghai the man at the front counter assumed that we would only be interested in beds on sleeper trains, and it was nearly impossible to get him to understand that we’d be perfectly happy with seats on busses, as long as they would get us there.

So far I’m much happier this week than I was last week. I didn’t want to write about it at the time, for fear of seeming whiny, but I was feeling pretty miserable. There was a period of about two nights when I was coughing so much that I felt like I had returned to the summer of 2007 (only with more Chinese food and less candles.). The kids didn’t seem to much appreciate my inability to speak to them, and not feeling well enough to go out with the other teachers meant that I spent far too much time in my room by myself for my taste. In contrast, having my kids enjoying my lessons again, going out to dinner every evening with the other teachers, and being able to sleep well at night makes me feel like I’m on top of the world and everything is perfect.

In other news, in a bizarre twist of fate my German turned out to be useful a couple of days ago. I was at the police station to complete some of the final procedures for my residence permit, and I met a group of German teachers who just started working at a local University. They were pretty surprised to come across an American who spoke German in China, and we had a good time talking (auf Deutsch!) while we waited to meet with various Chinese officials. We exchanged e-mails before leaving, and it would be nice if something came of it. As much as I like the other foreign teachers that I live and work with, I also think it would be nice if my social circle could reach a beyond our little band of 18.

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Comments

[Ang]

I'm always hoping to bump into some random Dutch person and startle them with my language skills, but then my Dutch is nowhere near as good as your German. :D Glad you're feeling on top of the world again - have a great time in Shanghai!

[Firthy]

Yay!
Glad your trip is sorted!

[Emily]

That sounds great! Have a wonderful time in Shanghai. And I'm so glad your German was useful in China. That just tickles me.

[Ngaire]

Wow!
Oh, what FUN... taking a bus to Shanghai, and feeling better, AND making good use of your German, all in one week! I'm really pleased that you're settling in well, honey, and that things are going well for you.