marooned
so, fun times in china. did you hear about the earthquake in taiwan a little while ago? yeah, since then, we've had limited access to international websites and phone lines. today's the first day i've been able to check email etc in... a week and a half maybe? i'm not sure. it's taken me like an hour and a half to get livejournal to load this far. we've been told it may be as long as four more weeks before international websites are fully back up. this really brings home the fact that i'm a long way from home right now. i mean, an earthquake happens thousands of miles away and suddenly all my means of immediate communication with home are cut off.
there's so much that's happened since i last posted. christmas was really good. on christmas eve, i... well, worked:) then went to the store to buy some food to cook christmas morning. christmas morning, we all gathered, opened presents, then clara and i cooked breakfast (she did most of it). after breakfast, we sat around a while, then headed off to meemee's for christmas dinner, which was delicious. the day was warm-ish. we walked to dinner and it was warm enough that most of us took off our coats, although we were still all wearing sweaters. i have a million pictures, but can't post them yet.
speaking of pictures, i have about 300 pictures from three days i spent qingdao with rachelle, clara, and aaron. we were there for new years, which was awesome. qingdao is actually a summer vacation place, so we weren't there at the peak season, but it was still good. it was sleeting/raining/snowing the whole time, which sucked. still, we went to the beach, we had mouth-wateringly good french food, we shopped in hip stores, we went to the qingdao (tsingtao) beer factory (this will only be impressive if you've spent much time in china), and we went bar crawling. the bar crawling was surprisingly fun. most of those 300 pictures are of the bar crawls. on new years eve, clara and i didn't come back till 4:30, and aaron and rachelle didn't come back till 6:30. i do believe that's the latest i've ever stayed out drinking. which isn't actually saying much, since i don't really go out drinking too often. anyway, like i said, pictures to come.
and since i'm writing and feel like i should make the most of it, i'll add that i'm still thinking of applying for that job as a manager here at school, but i've hit a bit of a snag. apparently, the manager contract is for a year. and wasn't so much planning on staying for that long. i'd love to have the experience managing people from different cultures, even though i think it would be nitemare at times. mmm. but the thought of staying for another six months, till a year from now, seems sooooo long. i love china as long as i know i'll be leaving soon and that i'll miss it:) when the end isn't in sight, it's a bit different. so yeah, under consideration. apparently the last manager recommended me for the job when she left, and most of the other teachers and a few cts have told me i need to take it. i really don't know.
ok, so i'm going to hope this actually posts, and if you don't hear from me again for a while, you'll know why. hopefully it won't be long at all, but, as my friends here would say, it's bloody china, so who knows.
there's so much that's happened since i last posted. christmas was really good. on christmas eve, i... well, worked:) then went to the store to buy some food to cook christmas morning. christmas morning, we all gathered, opened presents, then clara and i cooked breakfast (she did most of it). after breakfast, we sat around a while, then headed off to meemee's for christmas dinner, which was delicious. the day was warm-ish. we walked to dinner and it was warm enough that most of us took off our coats, although we were still all wearing sweaters. i have a million pictures, but can't post them yet.
speaking of pictures, i have about 300 pictures from three days i spent qingdao with rachelle, clara, and aaron. we were there for new years, which was awesome. qingdao is actually a summer vacation place, so we weren't there at the peak season, but it was still good. it was sleeting/raining/snowing the whole time, which sucked. still, we went to the beach, we had mouth-wateringly good french food, we shopped in hip stores, we went to the qingdao (tsingtao) beer factory (this will only be impressive if you've spent much time in china), and we went bar crawling. the bar crawling was surprisingly fun. most of those 300 pictures are of the bar crawls. on new years eve, clara and i didn't come back till 4:30, and aaron and rachelle didn't come back till 6:30. i do believe that's the latest i've ever stayed out drinking. which isn't actually saying much, since i don't really go out drinking too often. anyway, like i said, pictures to come.
and since i'm writing and feel like i should make the most of it, i'll add that i'm still thinking of applying for that job as a manager here at school, but i've hit a bit of a snag. apparently, the manager contract is for a year. and wasn't so much planning on staying for that long. i'd love to have the experience managing people from different cultures, even though i think it would be nitemare at times. mmm. but the thought of staying for another six months, till a year from now, seems sooooo long. i love china as long as i know i'll be leaving soon and that i'll miss it:) when the end isn't in sight, it's a bit different. so yeah, under consideration. apparently the last manager recommended me for the job when she left, and most of the other teachers and a few cts have told me i need to take it. i really don't know.
ok, so i'm going to hope this actually posts, and if you don't hear from me again for a while, you'll know why. hopefully it won't be long at all, but, as my friends here would say, it's bloody china, so who knows.