a long awaited update

by popular demand i am writing in my blog again.  so here we go.  here’s an update to keep you guys busy at work when you should be working on that excel document.  i guess it’s better than hulu, right?

ill have to say i had been meaning to write in it for a while and just kept putting it off, but after my former boss facebooked me asking if i had left it all for dead, i knew i had to write again.  i mean you dont want to sever ties with your old bosses right?

this ones for you, nathan

life in puxi has been much more convenient.  no more bus rides just to get to subways.  i live a 5 minute walk away from the main line, and while its not nearly as convenient as it was in nyc (the subway was on my block…), ill take it. my chinese has steadily improved, but between june and july there were so many familiar faces from the states that i did speak a lot of english. started early june when janices friend from berkeley, kevin, came to shanghai, found out he lived right next to me so i’ve seen a good amount of him.  then the following weekend karen and jen came to shanghai for a couple days.  the week after that i take a vacation with janice, jess and jing for 10 days.  the week after that kevin has friends in town for a week.  the week after that jon and ray swing through shanghai as the start of their asia vacation.  right when i thought the continuous flow of people visiting shanghai had stopped, jeff facebooks me and tells me he’ll be in shanghai for like 8 days. so he comes, and while he’s here andrea emails me, telling me she’ll be here for a couple days a week after he leaves. so many people! so crazy! i’m assuming the madness is stopping, but it’s been a pretty interesting june/july, seeing as how i’ve seen so many people in shanghai.

in other news, what else has happened in the past month? what else but michael jackson’s death. seriously, i woke up to a text message from kevin that said “michael jackson is dead “. that is the worst way to wake up EVER. i think for the past 2 weeks i’ve read at least 10 news stories a day about him. the other night we went to muse and in addition to the dance performance inside, they had a huge michael jackson sign outside for people to write stuff on, so of course i did, and also did a pose in front of it MJ style.  i’ve been trying to download the memorial service for a couple days now, but the download is so slow that i’ll just watch it when i get back.  i can see how the conversation will go on my first day:

friend – “rob you’re back!  what’d you do on your first day?”
me – “watch the michael jackson memorial”

michael jackson RIP, huge part of my childhood, and the reason i dance and sing so well…}

speaking of singing, i went karaoke-ing last week in the early evening time with janice’s mom’s family friend’s daughter (so kind of a complete stranger) and her friends, i was definitely fifth wheeling it. but it was the first time i’ve ever karaoke’d without having a single drink in me. a little awkward since i barely knew these people, but still a good time. karaoke places in shanghai are really nice. this one had an all you can eat buffet (very clean), and each room has it’s own bathroom. it’s like a 5 star hotel…and because we went this early we got 3 hours and a buffet for only 69 kuai (about 10 dollars). craziness!

what else, oh! i thought of another awesome t shirt idea. it goes something like this. on the front of the tshirt will be this but he’s holding a nintendo in his hands. on the back, it reads 游戏！ !!!! get it?!! for the non chinese inclined, go here and click on LISTEN…then maybe you’ll get it. gotta love chinese sometimes

anyhow, it was great to see janice when she came. we had been apart for almost 3 months! craziness, it was like college all over again.  i don’t know how we do it, but i’m glad we do =]  i’m sure you’ve caught most of them on my facebook, but here’s my favorite one:

interesting story, i had an “interview” this morning to meet this manager at this company to teach her employees english.  i had a dream this morning that i was at the interview, and i didn’t get the job since they required a longer contract than how long i’m staying in shanghai for.  i wake up, head to the interview…and that’s exactly how it unfolded today.  my dreams are prophetic!  i know i shouldn’t, but i kind of feel bad for my agency though because how do you hook something up like that without knowing what both parties are looking for, etc?  if they were a public company, i’d short them right now

in other news, southwest is doing a 2 for 1 deal to vegas.  that would be incredibly irresponsible of me, but any takers?  haha

lastly, it was my little nephew’s 1st birthday!  here he is, reading the postcard i sent home

happy first birthday benjamin!

til next time folks!

Advertisement