(no subject)
So, while I only get ten days of leave as well as the public holidays off work within the entire year I'm here, there should be a few days here and there that I get off work for random reasons, such as the fact that the school is supposed to be installing interactive white boards in all the classrooms sometime soon. I've heard rumors that it will be the first week in January, and that would be kind of awesome, given the fact that that's right by the new year, which is what I celebrate more than Chinese New Year.
Rudy and I were talking today and he got me thinking about making a trip to Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, or any of the places around China during this short break I potentially have. I looked up ticket prices and they range from like $300 to $400, which is really decent considering it's a round trip ticket to another country. Also, I just don't spend very much money on regular basis living in China, so splurging on a trip like this seems quite reasonable, and I'm only going to be in China for a year, so I might as well see some more of Asia while I'm over here.
Now I'm just really impatient to find out when I will have time off. My boss' boss emailed me this cryptic email supposedly explaining when I should get time off for Chinese New Year (because he knows that Rudy and I are trying to plan a trip for him to visit me), but I can't understand it:
Hi Rosanne
I’ve been told that winter course will start Saturday, January 14th and continue through to Sunday, February 13th, this means no doubt that there will be a week of Chinese New Year Holidays in between a two weeks of courses.
At this point it is tentative and I am providing you with this information upon your request due to your planning needs. Please assist me by holding back on sharing this information at this stage until all is confirmed.
Does this make sense to anyone? I'm confused because there are four weeks between January 14th and February 13th, so if he is saying I would get a week off in between two 2-week courses, that doesn't work. There would have to be five weeks total for the two 2-week courses and our holiday. I emailed him back with my confusion and hopefully I'll hear back in the next day or so, and Rudy and I can finally book his plane ticket.
As for the random time off I'll get for the IWBs to be installed, I'm pretty sure I won't find out about that very far in advance, so I'm just hoping the plane tickets to travel to Japan, South Korea or Taiwan stay cheap and I'm also hopeful given the fact that there are at least three countries I'd like to go see, so I could just pick the cheapest of them and go to that one. :)
It's a rainy day today and it's my Sunday (Wednesday is my 2nd weekend day), so it kinda sucks cos even though I didn't have much planned today, it makes it not so easy to go out. It also sucks if I wanted to do laundry (which I do need to do) because my clothes won't really dry when it's raining outside. I think I'm going to get some hairy crab and try it out tonight, though, and I'm kind of excited about this. It's a Shanghainese delicacy at this time of year every year. :)
I may also try to go get my hair done. I absolutely cannot find any red hair color anywhere, because Chinese people pretty much only buy black or brown hair dye... so that's all the stores sell. I'll have to go to a salon for red hair color, and I would like to since my hair continually lightens with the sun and I don't want blond hair. I could also use a trim to keep my ends of my hair healthy. I'm just nervous and don't know where a good salon would be or how I could communicate with them what I want. I might just wait for another day, so I can ask Cinnamon beforehand to write out instructions for me to give them or something.
On the bright side, I have everything I need now to bake things, except for measuring spoons and cups. These seem impossible to find anywhere but on taobao, where I found American imported ones for pretty expensive. I might just get Cinnamon to help me buy them (I don't really know how to use taobao) and give her the money for them. Once I get them, though, I plan on baking cookies, banana bread and brownies! :D It will be great for rainy days or cold days that we have coming up. I'm kind of sad about how much it cost to buy chocolate chips though - it was around $10 USD for one regular sized bag of Nestle Toll House chocolate chips. I bought three bags and one bag of butterscotch chips, so it was an expensive trip, but I know I will use all of them, and I didn't want to have to make another trip to City Shop anytime soon because EVERYTHING in that store is pretty expensive (it's an import grocery store.)
Anywho, I think I will make myself some more tea and maybe go check out the huge wet market nearby to get some hairy crab. Make sure to check out the "day in my life" video I posted if you haven't yet - it shows what an average day is like here in Shanghai for me. Miss you all and hope you're doing well!
EDIT: I ended up just trimming my own hair, since this was something I felt relatively confident in doing on my own, and more confident in my own capabilities than in the ability of a Chinese person to understand that I only want a little bit trimmed off. I'm pleased with the results, and now all I need to get done at the salon is to darken my red again. :)
Rudy and I were talking today and he got me thinking about making a trip to Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, or any of the places around China during this short break I potentially have. I looked up ticket prices and they range from like $300 to $400, which is really decent considering it's a round trip ticket to another country. Also, I just don't spend very much money on regular basis living in China, so splurging on a trip like this seems quite reasonable, and I'm only going to be in China for a year, so I might as well see some more of Asia while I'm over here.
Now I'm just really impatient to find out when I will have time off. My boss' boss emailed me this cryptic email supposedly explaining when I should get time off for Chinese New Year (because he knows that Rudy and I are trying to plan a trip for him to visit me), but I can't understand it:
Hi Rosanne
I’ve been told that winter course will start Saturday, January 14th and continue through to Sunday, February 13th, this means no doubt that there will be a week of Chinese New Year Holidays in between a two weeks of courses.
At this point it is tentative and I am providing you with this information upon your request due to your planning needs. Please assist me by holding back on sharing this information at this stage until all is confirmed.
Does this make sense to anyone? I'm confused because there are four weeks between January 14th and February 13th, so if he is saying I would get a week off in between two 2-week courses, that doesn't work. There would have to be five weeks total for the two 2-week courses and our holiday. I emailed him back with my confusion and hopefully I'll hear back in the next day or so, and Rudy and I can finally book his plane ticket.
As for the random time off I'll get for the IWBs to be installed, I'm pretty sure I won't find out about that very far in advance, so I'm just hoping the plane tickets to travel to Japan, South Korea or Taiwan stay cheap and I'm also hopeful given the fact that there are at least three countries I'd like to go see, so I could just pick the cheapest of them and go to that one. :)
It's a rainy day today and it's my Sunday (Wednesday is my 2nd weekend day), so it kinda sucks cos even though I didn't have much planned today, it makes it not so easy to go out. It also sucks if I wanted to do laundry (which I do need to do) because my clothes won't really dry when it's raining outside. I think I'm going to get some hairy crab and try it out tonight, though, and I'm kind of excited about this. It's a Shanghainese delicacy at this time of year every year. :)
I may also try to go get my hair done. I absolutely cannot find any red hair color anywhere, because Chinese people pretty much only buy black or brown hair dye... so that's all the stores sell. I'll have to go to a salon for red hair color, and I would like to since my hair continually lightens with the sun and I don't want blond hair. I could also use a trim to keep my ends of my hair healthy. I'm just nervous and don't know where a good salon would be or how I could communicate with them what I want. I might just wait for another day, so I can ask Cinnamon beforehand to write out instructions for me to give them or something.
On the bright side, I have everything I need now to bake things, except for measuring spoons and cups. These seem impossible to find anywhere but on taobao, where I found American imported ones for pretty expensive. I might just get Cinnamon to help me buy them (I don't really know how to use taobao) and give her the money for them. Once I get them, though, I plan on baking cookies, banana bread and brownies! :D It will be great for rainy days or cold days that we have coming up. I'm kind of sad about how much it cost to buy chocolate chips though - it was around $10 USD for one regular sized bag of Nestle Toll House chocolate chips. I bought three bags and one bag of butterscotch chips, so it was an expensive trip, but I know I will use all of them, and I didn't want to have to make another trip to City Shop anytime soon because EVERYTHING in that store is pretty expensive (it's an import grocery store.)
Anywho, I think I will make myself some more tea and maybe go check out the huge wet market nearby to get some hairy crab. Make sure to check out the "day in my life" video I posted if you haven't yet - it shows what an average day is like here in Shanghai for me. Miss you all and hope you're doing well!
EDIT: I ended up just trimming my own hair, since this was something I felt relatively confident in doing on my own, and more confident in my own capabilities than in the ability of a Chinese person to understand that I only want a little bit trimmed off. I'm pleased with the results, and now all I need to get done at the salon is to darken my red again. :)