been so long - writing fro shanghai!!

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OOOOooooookkkkkkk.

wow last time i wrote in this i hadnt even been in hong kong for 8 weeks! reading that last entry seems so long ago its cbeen crazy times since.

i will update now but much more briefly than i should - mainly in an attempt to catch up the last two months!!

so. i was 3 days into a 20 day stretch of work. thats DONE.
the experiences gained from that were fantastic - especially working with the deaf young peopl at chun tok school in diamond hill.
by the end of may (the 25th) i finished all 5 projects i had been running which was a great weight off my shoulders and brought with it a great feeling of accomplishment. some great experience gained and putting together exercise lists and games as well as curriculums for different projects will be great to put into my portfolio.

shows are going well - in this massive gap i have left we had created sherlock holmes which went up on may 17th to a great response. one of the best audiences we have had - they were so into it which was a great boost for our first show!! we will have to run it through before we do it again in july as it has been a while now since we performed it!!

it was dans birthday at the end of april so we went on a junk boat for the day - quick explanation. you pay 500HKD and then its all yyou can eat and drink alll day 8 hours on a boat sailing to sai kung and jumping off the side of the boat into the sea - swimming to the beach with ciaran - absolutely beautifully chilled mood - onwards after the junk to lan kwai fong - absolutely hammered at about 6pm and out until 4am - it was an intense day!!!

heading into may the weather began to really pick up - a couple of awesome thunderstorms as well!!

may passed quickly as we were putting together sherlock holmes
i am sure it was during may that i popped out with the football team only to win a dance off in 'new makati' using head stands to my advantage - tres funny evening. funny poker nights, followed by great niughts out with the lads.

and i booked my flights out to shanghai in the middle of may - so only had to countdown for 4 weeks to see emma which was crazy - very short time. it seemed to start going slowly but the final two weeks shot by - trying not to spend money was HARD.

and now here i am - its saturday at the end of my week in shanghai. i fly home tomorrow afternoon - something that holds mixed emotions for me.

i have had a ridiculously nice week - it has been so good seeing emma again - so relaxing not having to work and to just wander around the expo and see some amazing stuff. to meet some old friends and a whole new bunch of people who know nothing about me or my work so no talks about work we just got on purely on a social level. it has been great.
first arriving emma missed me coming out of the arrivals gate haha! so i went to the loo and surprised her upon my return when she was there looking about foir me. it wwas a very grey day when i arrived which was weird. and shanghai was weird. it is large - more spread out. 4 or 5 lanes of traffic. you can see the sky a lot. there is so much low income housing. i felt more at home on nanjing road (a really busy road - neon lit).
it was strange how i felt until i realised why and then i could relax. i thought i didnt like it - but its just the intensity is so much less.
HK is one of the most intense places i have ever been - its ex pat community is large and concentrated and i know it - i know my way around and i know a lot of people out there. here though everything is slower - the heat and humidity are less - its more of a sprawling city - how a normal city is.
so i relaxed into enjoying it.
it is a great feeling to know how much i love HK though and how used to it iam - a good experience to know how i might feel if i go back to the UK to meopham where the pace of life might very well give me a heart attack!!

i have enjoyed not making any decisions as well - letting others who have been here a little bit take us to restaurants that they have been too before. best meal so far tohugh was when emma took me to a vegetarian place in the french concession - amazing food - ridiculously so.

shanghai has been great and i have enjoyed it immensly.
i have been more of a tourist here than i ever have in hong kong and it was a nice feeling going round the gardens and seeing the temples and having a whole day to myself to go round the area near the hotel by myself - i wandered for hours and went miles into the little alleys on a whim looking at everything and seeing as much as i could at both ends of society here.

everyone is prepared with aa smile here - and they can be grabby and say 'PHOTO PHOTO' a lot but their faces also light up hen you smile and say 'ni hao' to them - they are pleased at the most basic attempts to try their language. it made me aware of how i am frustrated with my cantonese back in HK and now really want to go on a course to speak it better - i can get by with food in some places but i really want to have more than the basics down!!

so thats a super brief overview of the last 2 months.
i fly tomorrow afternoon at half 4 and arrive back in HK at 7pm. it will be sad to leave emma and the guys at the natural theatre company and some of the new friends i have made out here but i am also REALLY excited about getting back to hong kong. i wil lbe up at 6am on monday to perform cinderella and that will be my 4 month mark - which is crazy - really cool though.
my friend francesca from the year below me at east 15 on the same course as me is replacing naomi and so she will be out at the beginnnig on july and then naomi's last day is on the 16th of july.

so july will be BUSY.
now i have closed the 2 month defecit i wil lhopefully continue to update - hopefully in more detail about some adventures.

i will upload a selection of photos to show some of my adventures over the last few months too!!!

WOOP WOOP!!!!!
xxxx

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