Time to pack up and leave

Finally, we have found a new crib! That only took us… some 2,5 months or something?! Our current lease expirers in just a few days, so we really left it for the last minute. During our flat hunt, I think we have seen more than 100 flats in at least 4 different district. In the end, we considered everything, and still, it was so hard to find something decent.

I’ve never before found it hard to find a flat in Shanghai –but this time it was a true struggle. My old real estate agent told me that it’s because house prices are rocketing and as a result, more people are renting. Not only does this lead to less available places, but also, rents going up. For instance, on our way to see one place in the French Consession, we met some old friends of mine, and while we discussed our flat hunt we realised that we were about to go and have a look at THEIR old place! They had left it some 2 months ago, leasing it for 5500 rmb. Now it was on the market for 8000. Crazy.

During our search we ended up using a bunch of different real estate agents. My old agent (who helped me find the place where we are staying now) got sick of us quite quickly as I refused to settle for some overpriced bulls** meanwhile he kept telling me that there wasn’t anything else out there. Now I am glad that I didn’t give in. The place that we are moving to is not exactly what we wanted, but pretty close. It’s located in Huangpu (or old Luwan, as the two districts have now merged), so for us it will be a completely new area to try, which I think is fun. We’ve been living in Xuhui/the French Concession for quite a while now (basically since we moved to China, minus a 6 month stunt in Pudong and 2 years in Suzhou) and I’m a bit tired of the whole “old lane house” style.

Now we just have to do the actual move too, and then life will be good (gosh, I hate moving?! Where does all this stuff come from?!). Last night when I couldn’t sleep because of all the noise outside our window, I couldn’t help but smiling. I seriously cannot wait to not having to sleep with double earplugs. One more night –and then we are out of here. Hallelujah!

Guess the athlete game

Anybody recognize this iconic athlete? Probably much bigger in China than in his native Sweden. Anyway, this is who I will be spending Sweden's National Day with. Thumbs up if you -despite the bad photo- can tell me his name (and if you're not Swedish!).

Get your popcorns ready!

Today is the opening day of Sweden Film Week 2011瑞典电影周, giving Shanghai-ers the chance to watch the newest from the Swedish film industry. The screenings are a mix of animation, drama, comedy, thriller and, of course, some good ol’ Bergman stuff.

In Shanghai, all films will be showed at 上海大光明 Grand Theatre, 216 Nanjing west rd, near Xizang rd. 上海大光明电影院, 南京西路216号, 近西藏路.

Tickets can be bought at the cinema for 50 rmb. All films are in Swedish/English with Chinese subtitles.

Screening schedule at Grand Cinema, Shanghai

May 30, 7pm Miss Kicki (88 min)

May 31, 8pm Easy Money (120 min)

June 1, 8pm The Girl (96 min)

June 2, 8pm Sawdust and Tinsel (88 min)

June 3, 8pm Sound of Noise (110 min)

June 4, 8pm The King of Ping Pong (106 min)

June 5, 8pm Metropia (80 min)

June 6, 8pm Everlasting Moments (125 min)

See you at the cinema!

Walking uphill

I’ve been keeping busy lately. At the same time as I’ve been battling sleeping problems I’ve been putting in quite a few extra hours at work, and then on top of that I’ve tried to locate a new apartment in Shanghai. Man, when I have time to sit down and blog again I’m going to share with you some of the funniest flat-hunting stories and dramas that I’ve been experiencing over these last few weeks! But not until things calm down a bit. For the last week I haven’t even been to the gym once (!) –and anyone who knows me knows that that’s a sign of me rearranging my priorities. But getting enough sleep is a priority right now, as well as moving into a new flat. This area where I live now is great, but too noisy at nighttimes. I don’t think the noise is the only reason why I’m having troubles falling asleep at night, but it definitely has some impact.

I still have some big projects to finish off (D Day 1 is tomorrow, and then another one the week after that), and then life will (hopefully) eventually get back to normal. At least I’m hoping to find some time to hit the gym. Running makes life so much better. Thanks again for all the sleeping tips, both from people posting comments on this blog as well as from you guys sending me emails! You rock!

Sleepless in Shanghai

Unfortunately I don’t feel very rested or relaxed after the wknd. I seem to have gone from “problems with falling asleep every now and then” to constant sleeping problems. I have tried many things: not watching TV before sleeping, listening to music, exercising before going to bed, not exercising before bed, reading books, drinking tea, not drinking tea, avoid coffee and sugar, not eat big meals before bed, keeping the room dark and cool, doing relaxing yoga breathing, changing my sleeping spot (I now go from my bed to the couch every second night. It worked in the beginning but not so much anymore), herbal sleeping pills (not useful), real sleeping pills (also not useful –don’t make me fall asleep). I am getting a tad big frustrated and desperate: what the h*** am I supposed to do?!

I know that it is in my head and in my head only. It’s a thought that shapes itself as soon as I hit the afternoon, saying: “Oh, here comes the night and I feel so tired after last night’s lack of sleep… wouldn’t it be awful if I couldn’t fall asleep tonight either?!” and BAM, there it is. I know I should try to stop this way of thinking –but I have no idea how to do so. I try thinking about this and that, counting down from 300, imagining summer holiday in Europe, making up a story in my head… but it doesn’t work. It has been going on for so long now, on and off for a year, but this last month has been unbearable. I don’t know what to do anymore. Going to see a doctor doesn’t seem like an option: I’ve tried both herbal and real sleeping pills, and none of that works (yes, for real. I take a real sleeping pill and I still cannot fall asleep. Sometimes I don’t even get that “sleep hangover” that sleeping pills give you). What else can a doctor do than give you medicine? He cannot help me get rid of that one little nasty thought at least, that’s for sure. And it’s just that one thought that I wish I could escape. I am not in bed stressing over unpaid bills or work or anything: it’s just about “not being able to sleep.”

Ah, at first I was thinking that I wouldn’t write this post but then I thought, maybe one of my readers have had a similar problems and know of a mind game that can manipulate your thoughts?! Or anything? What do you guys do in order to turn off/or turn thoughts in another direction?

Improved blog!

Room for improvement -oh yes! One can start with keeping their eyes open while being photographed!

I am fully aware that I should have done this ages ago, but anyway, better late than never. I've now added a search function to my blog, the blog labels (not so many) and a subscribe by email function. Now I just have to start update this baby on a more regular basis too -and we can all live happily ever after. Nah, just kidding. But since I'm in the mood of improvement and changes, I might as well take this opportunity to ask you, my dear readers, if there is something else that you wish for (writing wise that is)? Is there some topic you don't want to read about? Something you wish to read more about? Something you feel is missing? Just say the word.

The no-sugar bet –update

And I can't have this, right... nuts and carrots, anyone?!

Just to let you all know, I’m now more than 1 week into the bet and I’m doing fine. It’s not hard not to eat candy/cookies/sugary snacks during the weekdays (although when I colleague recently came back from a trip to Sweden and emptied a bag of candy in the kitchen, I had to ban myself for going in there until it was all gone), the biggest challenge comes during the weekends.

If I’m out doing something –I don’t have any problems. As soon as I get home, position myself comfortably on the couch and turn on a movie though…. Ahhg! That’s when thoughts like “snacks, I need snacks!” hit me. Since I had a rather inactive and boring wknd last wknd, I better keep myself busy this weekend so that I don’t fall for temptation. Someone told me that the first 2 weeks are the hardest –then the sugar cravings will disappear and I will not think about snacks anymore. So here we go, sugar-free week 2, who’s still with me?

Oh, and training is going OK too. Last week I did 3 sessions (10 km run, spinning and hot yoga), this week I’m aiming for 4-5 sessions (after today, I am 3 sessions in). On Monday I did a 7 km run in 39 min. So slowly I'm improving (I've always been good at long distance running if I can keep a comfortable pace... Pushing for speed, however, is a completely different story and that's what I am going for now). If anyone has some great non-sugary, healthy snack favourites (please don’t say carrots!) they’d like to share, feel free to do so. The risk of me ending up in front of the telly at some point this week is quite high.

The bet

No more

After a week with parents in town I feel relaxed and happy, but a bit like a chubby Easter bunny. It’s simply impossible to turn down temptation when your parents:

-Travel here with a suitcase full of Easter eggs and Swedish chocolate for their beloved daughter.

-Enjoy sitting down for a coffee and sandwich (mom) or a cake and beer (dad) every day of their holiday week (What are you supposed to do? Not join them?!).

-Encourage you to share a bottle of wine with them for dinner. Pretty much every day.

-Hides chocolate in your apartment (yes, for real) before departure so that won’t miss them too much.

Now when they have left, however (and all the hidden candy in my flat has been located and eaten), I am keen to do something about my sugar addiction. So, on Sunday night, in the heat of the moment (read: after 2 snickers bars and some large, sugary milk chocolate pieces that made me feel more like a pig than a bunny) I entered a bet with my significant other (in front of my folks –got to have witnesses when entering a bet), saying I will give up sugar for 2,5 months (yes! Months, not weeks!).

Why 2,5 months?

Well, because it’s 2,5 months until my holiday (no, not that I’m counting or anything, I just happen to know).

This bold statement of mine (anyone who knows me, knows that me saying things like “I’m not going to eat chocolate for a while” is quite bold –I’ve got a bit of a thing for cocoa –meaning I eat a lot of it. Every week) resulted in bemused smiles from my folks, and a long “no way, you’re never going to make it”-look by my bf.

Being a sucker for challenges I’ve taken the bet to my heart, only though…. It’s kind of hard not to eat sugar, or so I’ve realized when I, on Monday, entered my new, sugar-free life and was faced with the following situations:

1. On Monday (which was a holiday for me) I had a mini “picnic” in the park with a girlfriend (I call it “picnic” because she brought a ready-made sandwich from the shop and I brought sushi) and she brought along a package of chocolate chip cookies. I looooove chocolate chip cookies. But this time I had to turn it down.

2. Later the same day, I did something I rarely do, namely ordered in food, and imagine my surprise when I was given a gift muffin (!) just because it was Monday! So there it was: a large piece of temptation standing on my kitchen table. Not to be enjoyed by me, that’s for sure.

3. Then, Tuesday in the office. Coffee and cake. Cake and coffee. Snacks in the kitchen. Swedish chocolate. I had to make a real effort not to fall for temptation, especially since it was one of those busy days when you barely have time for lunch and your blood sugar drops in the afternoon and you feel kind of weak and dizzy but you’ve decided to go to the gym so you end up thinking: “hm…maybe I could just have a cookie or two, and I’ll feel much better on the treadmill.” But no, oh no, not me. I have a bet to win.

So, three days into the bet and so far so good. I’ve also been at the gym every day, and today I’m going to yoga (Maybe some serious Namaste-ing can help my mind to think of other things than chocolate brownies?).

However, I know that when the weekend comes is when the real challenge appears. Because this weekend, a good friend of mine is coming to Shanghai for a visit, and I just happen to know that she’ll see me and say:

-Hey, let’s go to Whisk! Just for old times sake!

And how on earth am I going to be able to hit Shanghai’s best chocolate café and NOT have chocolate?

To be continued.

Feedback, please!

New seasons... new posts!

A lot of changes are coming up here in Shanghai: the Expo ends this Sunday (and no, I will not visit any more pavilions, however, I might go for a closing ceremony at the Swedish one if I have time on Sunday). The temperature is dropping steadily (funny how it goes from wearing short, summer dresses one week to putting on your winter coat the next), and I am slowly moving back towards my normal sleeping/exercise patterns (last week I did running twice and hot yoga three times –and I slept like a baby every single night! Exercise is the key to healthy living for me). My trip to Australia (YAY!) is getting closer, and I’m so excited about this that I almost cannot think about it, because when I do I get this kind of cheesy grin on my face.

Anyway, with all of these new things coming up, I feel as if my batteries are slowly recharging, as if I'm getting ready for something new: a colder, calmer city with no more Expo-hysteria and maybe not overtime work every second wknd?! Ya, actually, I am ready! Bring it on!

So, in line with this "new era," I too want to renew myself and give you people that are reading this blog something new, something exciting, or maybe I'm just looking for some inspiration for myself?

Therefore, I now ask you all: what do you want to read about in this blog? What topics interest you? What kind of stories? What sort of photos? Do you want to see something new being introduced (like, an introduction to a new shop or a new restaurant)? Do you want more simple, nothing-special-like updates about daily life, or....

Now, before you all write “more travel stories!” I might have to already disappoint you and say that I cannot afford to go anywhere but Suzhou for a long wknd before my Australia trip.. so unfortunately the travelling posts will be limited for a while still.

However, do tell me what else you’d like me to blog about!

EXPO coming to an end

Absolut Bar at the Swedish Pavilion rooftop

It's now less than a month left of the EXPO, and guess who's heading out there today for a day of meetings. Yeah, that's right: Meeeee! Well, actually, I will be spending a lot of time there during this week, so today's not really any exceptional event.

I haven't blogged about the EXPO as much as I thought I would, mainly because I have not enjoyed it so much as a leisure sort of place. To me, the EXPO just means work and I normally don't blog about my job. Also, I don't really like huge crowds and long lines... but still. Some of the EXPO events I've been to have been a lot of fun!

I was thinking that I would give this opportunity to all of you who haven't had a chance to go to the EXPO, if there is something you'd like to know/find out before it closes? Some pavilion that you've heard of that's said to be "crazy" or something like that? Fire away, hit me with your questions, EXPO stories or EXPO advices... In less then a month, it will be all gone!

Disrupted sleeping patterns -help needed!

It’s Monday and I’m gearing up for what I believe is going to be one of the busiest weeks of my life.

This week includes a visit from the recently married Swedish Crown Princess Victoria and her Prince Daniel Westling, as well as the opening of Shanghai International Jazz Festival, Rolex Master Tennis Games, preparations for Shanghai Fashion Week (that kicks of on Oct 20), Finnish fashion events, dinners, mingle, cocktail receptions and you name it. I promise to try and become a better person if I survive this all.

Survive? What? –you might think, but yeah, the thing is that the recent hectic travelling schedule of mine has managed to mess up my sleeping patterns completely. I’ve had troubles sleeping for quite a while (basically since I moved to China), but for the last month or so it’s been on the verge of unbearable. Last week I slept two out of five nights. The other five nights were spent tossing and turning, counting the hours until I had to get up. I try not to panic about it, as I know it makes it all worse, but it's hard, and nowadays I sometimes catch myself thinking "I bet tonight I'm not going to be able to fall asleep" even before I go to bed. Ahhhhrg!

I’ve tried a fair bit of things: no coffee after 9am, no tea, no coke, no late dinners, exercising myself tired, reading before sleep, deep yoga breaths in order to calm down, and last week I even turned to some herbal sleeping pills, but they did nothing to me. So, in case some of you are sitting on some kind of magic sleeping cure, I’d be delighted to take part. I need my hours of rest this week more than ever (however, don't say "drink warm milk" because the taste of milk makes me feel like vomiting. I cannot handle anything else but soy products these days).

Happy Mid-autumn Festival

The national holiday/festivals are quite something here in China. Yesterday was the Mid-autumn Festival and a lot of people ended up working last Sunday so that they could have yesterday off. Where I work, this was not an option, so I was one of the few people that had to go to work yesterday. Because we had to work, the management in our building had to work, coming to open the door for us, helping us to access the elevator etc. Not very convenient. Then, lunch came and we went to our favourite Thai place to have their standard, 30 kuai lunch sets… only to be greeted with a: “No lunch sets today! It’s a public holiday!” Aha… so off we went to another (Japanese) place. Same story there. I tried to order my usual “grilled salmon with rice set meal” but was told by the waitress that it was impossible to get.

“Why?!” I tried.

“It’s just impossible today!”

“But what if I pay a bit extra?!”

“No, impossible!”

“OK, then I’d like to have one plate of salmon, one bowl of rice, and one miso soup?”

“Sure, no problem!”

Yeah, that’s how “impossible” it was.

Try calling someone on this very day with a work errand:

“Eh… sorry, I’m at the beach! Can we talk later?!”

Right. So. Useful. Day. At. The. Office.

Not!

However, my workmate told me one story that made me smile. After having to work non-stop for the last 5 months, covering all the ups and downs of the Expo, apparently a lot of the journalists obtaining Expo accreditation were sent by the local Government to Hainan Island during this Mid-autumn festival.

“Just to relax and have fun!”

Couldn’t that have to include all of us that have been working our a***s off because of the Expo? Oh well.

Today’s a new working day for me and my workmates, while apparently others have it off? It’s a bit confusing this whole “work one weekend and get a few weekdays off.” Everybody seems to follow different systems and I simply cannot keep track. My favourite Shanghai blogger “Woai” has written a pretty good post describing it all, you can read it here.

Happy Mid-autumn festival everyone! But be careful with the moon cake consumption! Tell you why in another post…

Come fall, come, come!

Gear up for some more fashion!

Finally, it’s September! I really looking forward to the autumn weather to kick off, but not only the weather, but also some of this fall’s highlight. I will be travelling a lot in September (for work) but I’ll make sure I’m here in October, as that month is probably going to be the busiest/best month of the year:

1. NOTCH Festival (Nordic-Chinese music/art festival)

2. Shanghai International Jazz Festival

3. Shanghai International Fashion Week

4. Closing of the World Expo (expect some fantastic events + a Swedish crown princess in town).

It’s going to be fun, fun, fun, or what do you guys reckon? Which event are you looking forward to (attending or reading about) the most?

Now please, hot, humid sun, disappear from the sky so that I can start wearing all my cool autumn outfits. I’ve had it with summer dresses for a year or so (or at least until we are going to Australia this Xmas).

Snowy Scandinavia VS sweltering Shanghai

This morning I was greeted by a somewhat surprising news story: it’s been snowing in the northern parts of Norway (in Jotumheimen to be more precise)! Now, sure, fall and winter tend to come early to northern Europe, but snow in August? That must be some kind of record?! (and it wasn’t as if it just snowed a little bit either: it snowed a lot!)

Snow, fall, warm clothes and cosiness still feel far away from life in Shanghai. Last week was much cooler than the 39 degrees I experienced when I first came back here, but it’s still well over 30 degrees, humid, and hot, and my feet and hands are still too swollen for it to be comfortable in high heels/rings. Last year it was 28 degrees in the beginning of November, so let’s see how long it will last this time. I am guessing mid-November, what do you guys think?

Back on (blog) track

Hello, China! Hello, blog readers!

I couldn’t keep away for more than 2 months. First I told myself that “come on, you’ve said your “goodbye,” how on earth can you start blogging again?" But then I thought: “well, why not?” (And really, why not?) It’s not as if this blog is following some kind of special format… It was nice to have a blog-break during my summer holiday in Finland and Sweden, but now when I’m back in Shanghai again it feels kind of odd not to be able to share all the funny things that I see, hear and experience every day (which has always been the purpose of this blog). Also, my dear parents (especially mom) have expressed numerous times that it’s a shame not to know what I’m doing anymore (sure we talk, but not every day) and that’s kind of true. Finally, I have to say that I miss writing. I thought that not blogging would inspire me to write longer emails to my friends, but it’s simply not the same. So, here I am. Back again. I’ll try not to do the whole “bye bye this is the last post” for a year or so again.

Forgive me? OK, then here we go again!

I got back to China in the beginning of August, after good holiday in northern Europe, only to be greeted by a hiking temperature. It was “only” 33 when I got here, but soon it went up to 39 degrees, and this made life, well, not hard, but kind of miserable. You don’t really feel like going out for a walk when it constantly feels as if you’re walking behind a bus that’s releasing all of its heat and fumes straight in your face.

Sick of the heat and bored with staying in I decided I needed to get out there and do something, so I went to the gym (that’s what I normally do when I feel bored and useless) for a releasing run.

Or well, that’s what I was meant to do.

Only though, when I got to the gym I was greeted by a somewhat cooler, but still not that cool, gym (how they can still be stingy with the air-con when it’s 39 degrees outside is a mystery to me, but I seem to be the only one complaining about it, so maybe it’s just me who has some kind of inner heat in my body and who has a problem with it?). I had been doing some running during my holiday, so even though I felt as if I stepped onto a tropical island when I stepped onto the treadmill (the heating lamp that was located just above my head acted like the radiating sun) so I told myself that it shouldn’t be too hard.

What was I thinking?!

40 minutes later I laid, soaked in sweat, on the floor, trying my best to regain my breath and wishing for my head to regain normal temperature again and not feel like an about-to-explode-bomb.

“Ah, it’s good to be back!” I told myself.

And really (even thought I might have been exaggerating and lying to myself at that very post-treadmill moment), it is. It’s insanely hot. Smelly. Messy. Crowded. Loud. (Did I say hot?). But I love being here. I passed my 4-years-in-China mark on August 15, and I must say that I’m stoked that I’m still here.

To another year in China (coffee mug clinks with water bottle)!

And to blogging again (solemnly raising a big spoon of muesli and yoghurt)!

Countdown to the forest days

Nothing beats a run on these trails...

Yesterday after work I felt hungry and tired, but still decided to go to the gym and give the treadmill a go. It proved to be a good idea, as I not only managed to run, but also managed to do 10 km within 58 minutes. Seeing that I did the first 30 min on a steady, 10km/hour pace, I'm quite proud of the fact that I managed to finish on such time. I'm currently in a "I love running" -phase, although 1 hour on the treadmill is a bit too long for my liking. I seriously cannot wait for going home this summer and taking on the forest laps of Finland and Sweden!

Ah, I'm gonna run pretty much every single morning while I'm over there, not wasting a single day, may it rain or snow (you never know, it's Scandinavia?!). I leave for a holiday on July 14, let the countdown begin!

Speaking of running, yesterday I saw a tiiiiny girl all wrapped in plastic foil running on the treadmill next to mine. She only managed for about 5 min, then she had to sit down and almost couldn't get up. Are they wrapping that plastic too tight? I almost felt like telling her that she'd get more out of running without some tight plastic around her arms. Who knows, maybe she'd even enjoy it?

The plastic-fantastic theme at the gym continues to astonish me.

...then you finish off by a dip in the lake! Ah, heaven!

New morning routine

Keen to become as fit as I was back in 2006.

Forgive my absence. I’ve stared a new habit, and I still need to work out how to fit blogging into it. See, last week was so insanely busy at work, and with the Expo around the corner I am pretty sure that the following weeks will be quite similar. So, I’ve started a new morning routine: namely 5km on the treadmill before work.

It’s actually not as bad as it sounds. I’ve been a morning person for as long as I can remember, and if I pack my bag the night before it’s simply the “getting out of bed” part that’s slightly hard; the rest comes by itself. Anyway, with this new habit I’m at the gym at 6.30 and then run for at least 30 min, before showering and getting ready for work. It’s a pretty good routine (not as hard to run during the mornings as I thought) but I am still to figure out how to squeeze blogging in on a more frequent level than twice a week (planning to do the morning work out 3 times/week).

Otherwise, life’s pretty good. I’ve started to feel human again after last week’s fashion fever. Ann-Sofie Back won an award for “Most Natural Fashion” by Shanghai Fashion Week at the closing party of Fashion Week on Tuesdays night. Go Back! I hope it’s not the last time we see a Swedish fashion designer in Shanghai.

Shanghai’s cold as a fridge. Like, really cold. I bet it’ll be summer any second now, and it will hit us without a single warning. Winter came late last year (not until December I would say), and it seems as we are about to skip spring for 2010 and head straight into summer.

Suzhou, one last time

A Suzhou saga of two years is coming to an end. Tonight I’ll catch the train to Suzhou for the last time (for a long time), to spend one last wknd in my old “hoods.” I moved to Shanghai early this year in order to start a new job (and a new life) and since then I’ve only been back to Suzhou a few times. We’ve kept our flat there, but now it’s time to give it up and to move on for real –my significant other is joining me in Shanghai and if we go back to Suzhou in the future it will be as visitors. We both agree on the fact that we don’t want to live there again. There’s nothing wrong with Suzhou, but Shanghai fits us both better.

During my 2 years as a blogger based in Suzhou I’ve received a lot of emails from people interested in Suzhou. I thought I’d put together a little Suzhou guide for y'all, however, not now, then I’ll be late for work. In order to write the “best” possible guide –I’d like to ask you what you’d like to know about Suzhou? Hotels? Restaurants? Sightseeing? Shopping? Living? Studying? Running/sports? If you have any questions related to life in Suzhou -post them in the comment’s field and I’ll make sure to do my best to answer them when I write my Suzhou guide.

This wknd is full of “goodbyes” (well, my boyfriend –who is still living and working in Suzhou- has been attending goodbye-dos since late last week, when I called him last night he was "gone with the ferries" after a gan-bei session with his Chinese workmates). I’ll be meeting with Rocky (alias the Hunan boy –who has inspired a LOT of my blog posts!) as well as with one of my best Chinese girlfriends, and then there will be an official going away-party and so on.

So long, Suzhou!

Korean or Japanese?

I've been keen on trying to learn another language for a while now. Since Finnish is not happening (still cannot count to 10...) I've been thinking a lot about Japanese or Korean. I think Japanese would be the most natural choice, seeing that the Japanese characters are often the same or at least similar to Chinese (even though the meaning differs). However, I'm a huge fan of Korea and Koreans, so that's what I'm leaning towards. Anyone who's had the experience of learning either language that can give some hints or recommendations? 

When I was in Seoul back in 2008 and spoke to a local he told me that if I could speak Chinese (which I could not do that well at that point -but he didn't know that) Korean wouldn't be too hard to learn, especially not the reading and writing part. Their words and pronunciations, however... Well, it will be a challenge I'm sure. 

Another decision to make -do I study at a school (evening classes) or do I get myself a private Korean tutor? A tutor would be comfortable, then again I'm kind of a fan of the classroom environment, especially in the beginning of learning a new language.  

Finally -do I have time for all this? Definitely not! But that's the beauty of it all. 

Back on track (finally!)

Forgive me for my absence. I started my new job this Monday and it’s been rather overwhelming. Also, living in a flat with no internet connection (and no microwave?!) for 1 week it quite unbearable. However, after extensive nagging-campaigns initiated by me and targeted at my new landlord he finally gave in and took the time to fix up my flat. And now, ta-da, I have the net. I’m connected. And I can blog again. YEY!

So how about work then? Well work is just work right?! I won’t go into details about my job in this blog but I can tell you that it’s an exciting new job with a lot of responsibilities and that I’ll be staying in China for quite a long time if everything goes as planned.

This (the new flat, the new job, the new…. Life?! Because it is a new life for me!) will be celebrated tonight with an old ex-colleague and the largest possible drinks we can get at a cocktail event in downtown. I am so, so happy about finally living in Shanghai again. No offense to Suzhou, but Shanghai is really the place where I want to be.