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Published: January 2nd 2008
It's 2008, a new year, the Year of the Rat! 2008 is China's Olympic year, and the build up is growing every day! I put my name in the second round lottery for tickets, so we'll see if I get any or not. I won't find out until April, so I have to keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best. I am jealous of my friends that had their names down in the first round lottery and already have their tickets. I will patiently wait out the next four months until I find out the results of my endeavor.
New Year's weekend was going to be a bit of a drag, in that we were notified about a week beforehand that we would have to work on the 31st. My friends and I had planned to go to Shanghai for New Year's Eve and celebrate in style down there. But due to the Chinese national holiday schedule and the way they do things here, Aston had to rearrange our English classes. You see, when China has a national holiday, they actually have to go in to work and school to "make up" for the time that they will have off. This means that for the New Year's holiday, everyone had to go to work/school on Saturday, Dec 29th. Therefore, our Aston classes for that day were pushed to Monday, Dec 31st. Therefore, we couldn't get to Shanghai in time, as it's an overnight train from Jinan. We would've been on the train at midnight. So in the end, our plans for Shanghai were Shanghai'ed. 😊
The crowd that had planned to go to Shanghai decided to stay local and make the most of it. It was Chandlee's birthday on the 31st, and his girlfriend Anh invited everyone to come celebrate in Zibo, their city, which is about an hour from Jinan. Several of us said we would go. In the end, most of us backed out, since it was a work day and we were all tired from working Sunday and Monday. Getting up at 6:30 AM takes it out of a person, at least most of us who are night owls! So in the end, only a few Jinan teachers went to Zibo. I stayed in Jinan, feeling low energy from a recent cold and not in the mood to pack a bag and get on the train and etc. I went the lazy route of staying here in Jinan, where the majority of the Aston teachers were. My social magnet tends to prefer the party with the most people that I can mingle with, and that was sure to be the case at the usual hangout, LanGuiFang.
We all finished work and headed our separate ways to get ready for the night out. I freshened up and changed into something more presentable and non-chalk-covered for the evening. I met my friends at Li Xia Da Sha and we had a few drinks there before heading to the bar. Normally, our favorite watering hole is mostly empty, just a few Aston teachers and locals. Aston classes are on the weekends, so most of the teachers don't go out on weekends, therefore I don't have a good sense of what that place is like on a normal bar night like Friday or Saturday. My friends and I usually go there on Sunday night and/or Wednesday night. Well, it was PACKED on New Year's Eve! I have never seen so many people packed into the bar! We danced and drank and reveled and counted down and even had some sparklers going at one point. It was a great night and tons of fun and I am really glad that I went out with everyone to the place to be on New Year's Eve!
In 2008, I plan to catch up on my blog entries from the last few months. I have lots to write about, so get ready for some new stories! HAVE A FANTASTIC 2008!
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Kristine
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Olympic year
I hope you get to snag some tix for the Olympics. There is nothing cooler than the Olympics, I am totally obsessed w/ them. I really get into the summer vs. winter olympics. When I was in Atlanta in '96 it was really neat meeting people from all over the world. The city will change dramatically, hopefully they will stop killing all the poor stray animals, but damage has already been done. GgGgggrrr China!