vacation time

today is sept 30, which totally trips me out to even think that tomorrow is oct 1.  where the heck has the time gone?? i moved here in june..ahh!  so ya....its been 3 months now that i have been living in shanghai.  sometimes it feels as if i have been here forever, and other times i feel like i just got here.  but, i am for sure stoked to be here and grateful i have a job that pays well.  do i love teaching 2-6 yr olds.....um yes and no!  they are pretty cute and well behaved, most of the time.  but, i really do miss my high school kids.  for now..it will do and it is just stepping stone job to get me into other things.  moving to china has made me love being on my own even more.  i like the idea of making new friends, a new city to explore, living in my own apartment with no roomies.  it is a refreshing new start to year 30 of my life.  i am forever grateful for the friends i have made here so far and the experiences i have had!

tomorrow i am headed to northern vietnam with my friends ben and tara.  tara teaches with me, just at a different school and ben works at a pottery studio.  we are going to have a blast.  i havent had a break from working for 3 months.  my job owns my soul...ahhhh.  teachers are suppose to have tons of time off.  well, we have 6 days off for a festival week....so we are out of here.  we are flying into hanoi....few days running around like tourists..and then we are headed to live on a boat for 3 days in halong bay.  i cant even wait to sit on a boat, sleep on a boat, drink on a boat, jump off a boat....u get the point!  this vacation is going to be amazing.  there are no direct flights to hanoi...well at least any that were available.  this is peak travel time right now since all of china is on holiday.  we are pretty much traveling like peak season at christmas time at home.  we have a 7 hr layover in ghangzhou....yes thats right..7 hrs.  tara is bringing uno cards.  i am sure some sort of photo shoot, where's waldo, or some other crazy game will be happening in the airport.  it is pretty exciting to just jump over to vietnam for a vacation.  it is going to be odd to be hearing another asian language.  i have gotten so used to tuning out chinese..oops.

life is good here in shanghai.  it has finally cooled down.  i have actually worn pants and even a sweatshirt...yes people.....a sweatshirt.  there have still been some warm days...but overall fall might just be here.  i am welcoming the change in weather...but along with that came a nasty cold...which i am still fighting off.

my parents sold my car a few weeks ago.  i was a lil sad since it was the first car i ever bought on my own....but things are things..i can buy a new one later.  plus, i really dont know when i am going to be coming back.  as of now i have no desire to come back to the states to live right now.  i can live so well in shanghai on not a lot of money....and still do whatever i want.  cali is sooooo expensive.  it is refreshing to know that i really dont have any material possessions anymore.  its just me, my computer and my clothes.  my whole life was basically sold last oct in a garage sale.  my car was the last major thing for me to part with.  i only came out to shanghai with summer clothes, since i didnt know if i would stay or not.  but......my parents were nice enough to ship me a box of some clothes.

thanks for listening to my rambling.  i am now off to pack and get into vacation mode. stay tuned for pics of vietnam.  maybe i will find some viet cong to chill out with.  hahahaha.

i am heading from one crowded city to the next...yet i hear the scooters are insane in hanoi.  here is a pic.

this is a junk boat...similar to what i will be staying on for 3 days in halong bay. yes please!!!!

we are spending one night on cat ba island.  i cant wait to sit in the water all day long.  gonna be heaven!

Hangzhou

amazing reflection

pure reflection..insane!

tara

giant lily pads

pineapple rice....don't mind us being super sweaty and nasty..so hot out at 8 pm!

crab on a stick

this is my buddy....notice some ppl have stolen some of the lil ppl off of him

meat on a stick

made out of palm fronds

A few weeks ago, my friend Tara and I took a train to Hangzhou....about 2 hrs outside of Shanghai...on a lake.  We got to the train station around 815 am to hopefully get on the 930 am bullet train.  The lines were soooooo long.....people were trying to cut, but we gave them dirty looks...hey...it helped a lil.  hahaha.  45 min we got our train tickets, but they were for 1130, not 930. Oh well, at least we got a ticket.  We could only buy a one way ticket, we had to buy our return ticket when we got to Hangzhou.  Tara and I hung out in train station and waited for the train.  We got some snacks and breakfast.  There were hot water dispensers all over the place, for free.  People were all lined up filling up their tea bottles and their ramen bowls...classic.

While we were waiting in line to get on the train...seriously felt like a herd of cattle....we met two girls that have been teaching in seoul korea.  They are from the states...it was fun to chat with them while waiting to get on the train.  We soon found out we did not have seats on the train, so we got to stand for an hour and 45 min...good times.  At least the train was super nice and air conditioned.  We were on the bullet train, it got up to 135 km/hr.

We got into Hangzhou around  1 pm, went thru the maize of the train station and bought our return tickets for the following night.  Tara had printed the directions to the hostel out in Chinese...so we just handed it to the cab driver.  Hangzhou is a big city...but we stayed at a cute hostel on West Lake.  We were very happy to see water, but we were not excited with how hot it was.  The cab said 44...not okay...so humid and nasty.  But, we checked into the hostel, put out stuff down and ventured out.  Alot of restaurants were closed mid day....so we wandered for a bit til we finally found a place.  We split a giant fruit bowl and some meat, soup and noodles.  The fruit was beyond amazing.  We then made our way down to the old part of Hangzhou.  There were lot's of cute lil stores and handicraft booths.  We eventually made it back to the hostel and immediately took showers, we were beyond disgusting.

One of Tara's friends recommended a place to go to dinner to get this really good chicken.  On our way out there were 3 people getting ready to go to dinner with us, so they tagged along.  One guy from Denmark, another guy from Germany and a girl from Switzerland.  It was fun chatting with all of them.  We wanted to get a cab to take us to dinner, since the walk was bout 35 min and it was still super hot, but it was hard to find a cab that would take 5 of us.  We eventually found the restaurant..her friend failed ot mention it was a whole chicken...so we didnt end up eating there.  We found a street that had all street food.  So many random choices:  whole crabs, quid on a stick, meet on a stick, duck heads, pigeon, rice, noodles, dumplings.....u name it they had it.  Tara and I split pineapple rice that was in a pineapple...so good.  It was so hot out...we both weren't too hungry.  We went back to the hostel, hung out and chatted with ppl and then were ready for bed by 10 pm.  The heat killed us!!

We woke up around 930 am....but were in lazy mode.  We had some granola and yogurt at the hostel and then showered and got on our way.  We took a local bus a bit up the road and then wandered thru the greenery.  There are tons of spots to hike around in and great views of the lake.  It was another uber hot day.....so the shade was a must.  We had a great time wandering....having no plans sometimes is the best.

We got back to the hostel and were wiped out.  Tara wanted to go back to old town to buy some stuff, so I took a nap on the couch.  When she came back..it started to rain.  There was no chance of us getting a cab b/c it is rush hr from 4-6.  We took a local bus, which we were told loops around the lake and takes about an hr to get to the train station.  We waited about 20 min for the bus...luckily there was a covering b/c it was pouring.  Some of the loudest thunder and lightning I have heard so far!  We were in awful traffic on the bus.  Instead of an hr, it took almost two hrs and we missed our train.  Luckily an English guy was in line in front of us at the ticket office and asked if we needed him to translate for us...um yes please!  We were able to exchange our tickets and get on a later train...thank goodness.  Oh and we had seats on the way home...yay!

People watching is amazing here in China...always something going on.  Tara and I had a great time venturing out of the city.  Here are some pics:

standing room only on the train

u fill up that ramen bowl with the free hot water, do it!

another use for a ramen bowl...pillow

west lake

pagoda

west lake

 no idea what it says