Tuesday, August 08, 2006







THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM AND AN INSIGHT TO MY LAZINESS

This has now been the longest gap between posts since I left the UK in what felt like another lifetime ago, although the gaps between posts are more to do with having too much to say rather than not enough.

Since I've been in Shanghai I've considered my 'travelling' to be over, in that I'm not living life with my nose in a guide book or constantly searching out activites in an effort to make the visit to my current location justifiable.

Times like that were easyish to write about because of the relatively short time in each place, throw in a few schoolboy errors ans amusing things in between the details of each place and repeat in a new location. Worked for me anyway.

Shanghai has now become somewhere that I live, with more familiarities of life in UK perhaps than one of my travel destinations. Here I (did) work during the week, the same as my friends as well as the inevitable weekend long 'heavy socialising' which is something I always enjoy.

So although routine has struck me here and it's not the awesome 'littlest hobo' type adventure that I had been on, actually living in Shanghai and the routine that came with it has been very good on the whole, further justifiying my decision to leave UK in the first place, seeming to me that a new routine elsewhere is what I want as well as the big adventure that preceeded it.

So because of this new routine and all the things in it I've found it really difficult to get it all down in words - something (along with talking) that does't usually give me a problem.

There are lots of things for me to talk about, such as my infant like grasp of the Chinese language, and the good feeling from surviving difficult situations (taxis, restaurants) in Chinese for the first time, as well as the comedy moments when my Chinese just simply is crap.

The teaching experience is only one I spoke about briefly but spending time doing something the polar opposite from anything you've ever been employed to do really does make you think about the choices you have. If I now get caught moaning about the  trappings of my next office job then I only have myself to blame!!

Many other things could have been mentioned, such as my luck (or lack of) at the weekly poker game or my love life but some are too boring or too close to  put out there on the www, I'll let you decide which is which!

So, in about 3 weeks time I'm leaving Shanghai after the arrival of the previously mentioned messrs Mills, Webb and Roberts,  hence the calm right now ahead of their arrival.

The plan for us as it stands is to do some travelling around China in the time they're here as well as some time in Shanghai which will no doubt degenerate into all other previous holidays we have all been on together in a haze of late nights, alcohol and bizarre random events!

So for that time at least It'll be a little bit like travelling again, although my next destination after China will have to be anything but.
I'm sure pretty much everyone knows where I'm heading to next, especiallly seeing as I've had my visa approved over 6 months ago!

I wanted to take a picture of my onward plane ticket to post on here now to show you all, firstly as it's so expensive I wanted to show it around before I use it and secondly just because that would be cooler than just saying.

However, as I am currelty awaiting insurers to help me out with purchasing camera number 3 of this trip (last one wasn't my fault) I've put up a couple of other pictures, one from my last teaching position during the summer camp, as well as some of my friends out here taking at vairous stages of world cup games, thereby explaining the slightly 'glazed' look in some of them!


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