Birthday Celebrations the American Way

Apology accepted - Thank god!

After dealing with some minor boy dramas, it was off to celebrate NZ Sam's birthday in China it was off to enjoy Y88 (NZ$18?) all you can drink at T.G.I Fridays' in downtown Wuxi.

Birthday Girl

TGI's, Anna, myself and our TGI member stickers

Yummy Passionfruit intermission at Uberfoods!

Before we headed off, it was off to our 'Uber' favourite Uberfoods to talk to the chef about school related visits -we never got that far and ended up lining our stomachs with tasty treats like salmon variations, freshly made pate and chocolate souffles!

A minor wardrobe malfunction - Made in China but purchased from House of G in NZ- so not impressed!

Paul the ambassador of Long Islands

Joining the celebrations was Sam's friend Ricardo (another fellow NZ - watch out Aussies, you're becoming outnumbered here!), who arrived that day. Great treat for Sam.

Ricardo enjoying some of the perks of living in China
Pete, Tim and I starting the night off!

After watching a fire show and fitting in as many huge cocktails as everyone could handle (Mum and Dad, you know the ones!), it was off to new favourite Kalina's for a massive boogie and dance offs!

"We're the dancers" Eat your heart out Justin Timberlake!

It was so good to be around people that are able to let their hair down and not care about dancing and enjoy the music!

Cutting some shapes on the DF

Tam and Sisco getting down on the stage at Soho

The night ended with a quick dance trip to Soho and and freshly made steaming hot McD's on the couch - yes, I can get the taxi driver, who speaks no english to stop and wait at McD's while I run in and order - but I am still not able to say 'I live in Wuxi' in Chinese!

Priorities people!

xo

Classy ladies!

After our late return home (or rather early return home) from Sam's birthday celebrations, Anna suggested a mid morning/afternoon of massage.

Being the delicate wee flowers that we are (I'm sure you can read into that one!), we decided an hour and a half foot massage with a girly DVD and then another hour and a half full body oil massage was in order.

Now, to understand our condition you will need to throw into a pot a VERY late night/early morning, mini high school dramas erupting everywhere, a strenuous job and 2 very tired and fed up girls just wanting to find and be themselves again!

After a rather predictable but perfect chick flick and foot massage it was 'get your gear off' for the full body massage. Usually when I do get a full body massage I get an hour and they just do your back, neck, arms and backs for your legs.

However 90 minutes entitles you to a bit more. Now, now, don't get excited...I didn't mean the 'happy ending' massages that a lot of the men (and maybe some women?) get here. But it did cause a lot of giggles.

Anna starting telling me that when the masseuse massaged her breats it always felt wierd but that it must be good for them.......I was like 'SAY WHAT?'

'Are they massaging you boobies?' (typical me!)

'Yeah, around them and kind of on top'

'They are NOT getting near my boobies!'

Next thing my person is telling me to turn over and then tries to whip down my sheet! Giggling and clinging onto the sheet, I tell her I don't want that in Chinese, Anna then joins in the laughter when my Chinese, changes to english as I say 'boobies' (not something that I have learnt to say in Chinese). The staff were giggling away and my massuese didn't quite know what to do.

Anna then proceeds to tell me (she is very full of wisdom on this day) that her person is pushing on her bladder and it is not helping the fact that she needs to go to the toilet!

Oh, no...the Kfc (recovery food) that we just had springs to mind.......oh god........not the dreaded wind!

Without any warning my person pushes in the right places and the room erupts....VERY classy!

Let's just say it gets no better from then on but it had Anna and I in hysterics, feeling like we hadn't laughed like that in ages and loving every minute of it!

Let's just hope that they want us back!

No more cloudy days?

Waiting for the lift on Saturday, I nearly fell out the window when I looked out of it!

Amazingly from the 28th floor I could see all the way to the Wuxi hill. You can never see it, even on the cleanest of days.

It had rained the previous day and presumably the smog had not had time enough to settle again and a clear view was had.

Mind you by the time I returned a few hours later the smog was right back in place....Whew..that was a worry!

How to make a supermarket fun!

A weekend in Wuxi can either go one way or another...it can be same old, same old or you can add a little bit of fun to it- Even if that fun may be a little bit childish. But let's face it: we all have a bit of child in us and if we don't embrace it what a boring person that would make.

Just putting a wee shrip on the barbie!

On Saturday in the afternoon after the rather hilarious massage, it was off to Metro(Midalong) for Western lovelies.

Along the way we made a camp sight, had a bbq, went fishing, purchased bulk favourites, bonded with hanging meat and enjoyed finding other lovely delights along the way. Also fitting in some excerise to work off all our bulk finds.

Run Amy, run...oh the healthy goodness of Nacho Cheese Corn Chips
Every supermarket runner needs her liquid refreshments!

Mmmmmmm,mmmmmmm what a way to spend an afternoon:

Camp mother Anna

Peek a boo, a wee easter bunny treat!

Sweet, sweet bulk hot chocolate goodness! Great for the supermarket workout too!

Oh yes, my favourite....big bags of fatty mince.....mmmmmm!

No sarcasm needed! Where's the NZ sauv?

Check out that hunk of meat and I'm not talking about the one that is hanging.....oh no...off to the gym before the Phillipines!

Screaming....I actually had a fish and it was 'this big'!

Shen me? (What the heck is this?) That question rears its head a lot in Chinese supermarkets!


Time to 'checkout' (I know, I know!)

Arohanui!

xo

Invasion of personal space?

Something has come to my attention lately that I was completely unaware of.

As I do not get many comments left on my blog I assumed that no one but my family read it - this is what the purpose of it is - to keep my family and friends back home in touch with what I am doing to eliminate thousands of emails that I get told off for not sending.

Now most of them have openly admitted that they hardly check it but every so often will check that I am ok. Understandable - I mean they lead normal lives! So really, I do it for fun, to create a release and for something to do.

With the lack of interest I did not expect anybody to be reading it, especially when I think it must be incredibly boring for people who don't know me.

I got a bit of a fright about 2 weeks ago when I was left an anonymous comment (which went unpublished - not really the right thing to put on a blog), which was obviously left from someone who I know and who knows about the situation I am in. Why they didn't leave their name beats me, but I have a fair idea of who it was but had NO idea they were reading what I would call my 'dribble'.

At the school carnival I was then informed by a lovely friend from Uberfoods that 2 of their regulars had talked to them, mentioning the 2 blogs that 2 girls write. They then concluded who it was and asked us. Another customer came in and told them that one of the girls (myself) was making a decision between Suzhou and Hong Kong.

Now this is definitely NOT someone I know, or have heard of before (she told me the name of the person) so I am am left wondering - who IS actually reading my blog?

And me being the ICT savvy that I am (NOT) how and why did they find my blog?

Now I am not stupid and realise that these things are available on the web easily and I did create a blog - but as I said, for friends and family back home - I find it a bit weird that people read it and there is no trace of them afterwards.

I don't know it could just be me, but I almost feel pressured to write more interesting things.

But to be honest I have another blog that I write on more than this that actually deals with a major issue that I am dealing with and on this blog it is the only place I can actually write things that won't offend anyone, as when I write this one I have to think about who might be reading it and what I have to omit from it.

Invasion of personal space or not, I will keep posting - very wary of who might be reading this and will warn you that it may not be as regular, as I will be trying to keep my other blog on a daily basis.

Hmmmmmm - a bit too serious today!

Love to you all back home over the seas, especially you -Grandy! xo

Arohanui

Love Amy xo

Check out the laowai with her basket!

Go Amy - show us your basket!

Well, I have to have a laugh at my last post - hmmmmm relaxing at home? Christmas tree down? Pre Packing? Ummmmmm, no, no and more no!

Living by myself has been great, however when it comes to having a relaxing weekend in, the idea is good, just not the reality. As soon as I settle on the couch I realise that I have already been doing this for the last few week nights and really don't want to do it again...so then out comes the cell phone and the invites are out.

Anna, Sam and I at my apartment 'relaxing'

On Saturday it was a great gathering at my house for some impromptu drinks - NZ wine included -and then out to a local downtown bar.....after this some apologises need to be made, think these will be in person however, I don't want to embarrass myself any further! If only I had had that relaxing night IN!

Sam and the lovely Chris

The week has started off in a crazy rush - after a visit to a Shanghai school yesterday we are all back full of ideas and busy wrapping up old units, preparing new ones and preparing the new ESL after school program.

Shanghai Foreign Language School - Warm Welcome

The highlight of my day has been getting my new basket on my bike! YAY! Now I look like a real Chinese - so exciting! Feeling a bit like my old self - VERY excited!

Tracy in all her Chinese glory - basket AND umbrella!

I am also in the process of making honey mustard pork with a lentil, artichoke and goat's cheese salad - man I miss cooking.....this is probaby the first time in at least a month that I have used my kitchen!

Bon appetit everyone!

Arohanui

xo

Celebratory Dinner at Yuya

Anna took me to Yuya an amazing Japanese restuarant near our house to celebrate my decision to head to Hong Kong!

Drinking Lychee cocktails and champagne and eating delicious, light, healthy food was a perfect way to celebrate and end a teachers ony day.

Have a great weekend everyone! I'm going to spend mine relaxing and pre packing my house - maybe even finaly taking down my Christmas tree! hehe - I'm useless!

Arohanui,

Much love

xo

Pleased to know they are thinking of our safety!

After a rather indulgent brunch at Uberfoods (so good, as always!), Anna pointed out a sign on our building pointing to our buildings new under ground shelter!

It is always good to know where our local civil defense shelter is, even if it is directly underneath my apartment which has 32 floors!

Hmmmmmmmmm......let's hope we never have to use it, but at least they thought to put the sign in English for us!

xo

One from the kids

Today I had a fantastic inpromptu lesson with my children. One of the Korean students had bought a book from home that was in Korean and was about the movie Wall.E. I had him read it to the class in Korean and then summarise and translate it into English.

Pretty impressive for a 6 year old who a year ago had no English what so ever!

Let's be honest - I can't read a book in my native language and summarise it into another, for 15 other students!

The kids were so engaged - it was great! I hope that you can hear the video, it was loud in person but not so loud in the playback.

Enjoy! xo

Romancing in China

The source of this wondering: a young American in China

Now this is a big topic! A HUGE one at that! Instead of going on and on about rather large, balding and ignorant laowai men with Chinese girls, I am going to focus on the logistics of dating in China from my perspective....and my perspective only!



I am lucky to have had a relationship of sorts here in a city with hardly any foreigners. However, that 'relationship' wasn't the most conventional AT ALL. He was leaving in 3 months, I was travelling and going home for the summer break (a month and a half), I came back and within the month he was off home. Lovely boy that he is, he was back to visit me for 10 days at Christmas - a BIG deal, especially considering he was coming from Germany!!



The thing with living here is that everyone is on contracts, contracts that didn't start at the same time and are not the same length. Also a lot of people in my age range are only here as interns as part of their university studies or are here actually studying Chinese at the university so they are only here for a limited time - usually around 3 months- 6 months.



Not many people here are really looking for relationships, even I wasn't when I arrived, being very career driven and keen to travel and have adventures. The fact that I kind of stumbled into one was a lovely bonus.



However the other experiences that I have had here are rather non-conventional. I have dated an older African American man, who was so lovely and gentlemanly and only here for a very short time, however turned out to be married with small children...not so lovely but at least he was up front...ha! I have since had text messages from America to email him and when he was back - I of course ignored these, as any self respecting girl would do!



I also met another lovely American who was only here for a week, we danced the night away and parted, ready to meet for dinner, however due to both our schedules that never eventuated. He gave me his number we exchanged a lot of messages and when he left he gave me his email on the pretense that I send him the photos of him and his work mates on our night out, me, being me, I totally forgot...this was back last year. Then 2 days ago I get a text message that he is back in the country (north west China). I knew he was coming back but I thought it was in January. So obviously a few messages were exchanged and although he is not coming to Wuxi he will be in Shanghai from next week and wants to meet up.



This way of dating/relationships/whatever you know or want to call it, is so different. Is it really ok just to have dates like this? People who fly in and out of the country every 6 months or so, meet up with them for dinner and then say au revoir again.


I also have to point out that this is honestly what it only is - dancing, dinner nothing more, but I find it so strange. Obviously lots of flirting, but for me I really don't see the point starting something when I could be gone by the time they get back or who knows!



I have a friend who met a very sexy man one night at the Paulaner and he left the next day. They have been exchanging emails and he has offered to fly her to Barcelona for an extended weekend! I mean the way our love lives are going, it's almost hilarious!



What a situation to get ourselves into.



Don't get me wrong, I am happily single and I am happy meeting some lovely people to spend some quality (short?) time with. They are all stunning people (well maybe not the married ones!), but is it really worth it?



Maybe it is just the feeling of being in a normal situation again - flirting, laughing, meeting like minded people?



All I know is, as long as I am looking after myself and I am happy and having fun it's all that matters!



Arohanui,

Love Amy xo



P.S - I will keep you posted if I head to Shanghai.....somehow I am sure that after these wondering's, I will not be doing so!

Todays feeling -

How work is making me feel right now! Think I might be in need of NZ wine or dinner at Uberfoods!

xo

Not being able to just be there!

Cream of the crop - Julia and Laura

School has been really hard for me lately in terms of a lot of things. One thing that really effects my life here is just the want to be around like minded people and people who know you so well and who you know really well.

People who you can really talk to and really trust to be open and honest with you at all times. Living in an ex pat community that is VERY minute in comparison to the local population and filled with a VERY diverse bunch of people, it is really hard to actually form any kind of 'real' friendships (for lack of a better word).

It's not to say that I haven't tried, I am lucky, I know and have some great friends here in Wuxi, people who I like going out to dinner with, dancing with, and even doing small mundane things like grocery shopping with. However none of these people are people that I would tell everything too or could talk to them about everything and it is probably vice versa.

I find I call, a lot, not all, but a lot, of these friendships - 'friendships of convenience'. Even I hate this, I really don't want to have friendships like this but I think I have to realise that while travelling, I will meet amazing people like I have here, but not all of them will become people that I will know or have anything to do with after this experience.

Maybe, it is just the clientele as such, that smaller Chinese cities attract? Maybe the people who come here are all similar in their ways and are just not people who like to socialise with the likes of me - a loud, opinionated but friendly NZ girl!

Who knows?

All I know is that I really miss my friendships from home, people who even when I have been away for 6 months to a year, I come back and see and it's like I have never been gone! Real friends who I know I will be friends with for the rest of my life, who will be up front with me, who will talk to me about themselves and also ask about what has been going on with me. People not obsessed with all the details, already knowing them and the person I am.

At the moment somethings are going on with my 3 closest friends and all I want to do is be there for them. To know the details, how they are feeling and how all these things came about, but most importantly to listen to them and give them a great big hug. Sometimes being 'over the seas' really is difficult.

I really question my friendships here and horribly wonder if they are real.

I guess only time will tell.

I have to say a huge thank you to Julia, Laura, Kelly, Raihania and Noel - real friends for life! I love you guys lots and miss you everyday! Wish I could be there now but I'll be seeing you soon!

Arohanui,
Love Amy xo

Flick that switch!

When I first arrived in China I was greeted with the worst snow in 50 years. To me it was such an adventure and after about a week of being snowed in, the novelty soon wore off.

When a teacher at school (who had been living in China for 5 years) told me that on these particular dates in May it would rain, I was very skeptical! However, true to her words, exactly those dates it poured and poured and poured! The Wuxi weather switch had flicked.

The first of July the first few days of the summer holidays, the switch flicked and it automatically became unbearably hot! the switch had flicked!

After desperately waiting for this terrible cold weather to pass I think (and I so don't want to jinx it!) that the switch has FINALLY switched!

On Friday I was wearing long sleeved thermals, skivvy's, jerseys, jackets, tights, scarves, winter socks and boots, then Saturday (sun shining) I was at the carnival wearing short sleeves and jeans! Today's outfit consists of no tights and a thin 3/4 cotton top with a skirt! CRAZY!

So all I have to say is PLEASE,PLEASE,PLEASE Wuxi weather gods:

KEEP THAT SWITCH SWITCHED!

Shanghai for errands

Welcome to Shanghai - Shanghai Train Station

After the fun of the carnival it was off to Shanghai to finally farewell Kiki (any opportunity to procrastinate goodbyes), and do a few errands.

Building next to our hostel - housing in Shanghai!

A lot of our fellow Wuxites were in Shanghai for the weekend so we met up with them for a lovely dinner at a restaurant run by a friends NZ friend. It was lovely to eat beautiful moist duck, salmon and tuna tartare and chocolate souffle. YUMMY! Kiki left early morning for her flight home - she went with a very heavy frown - she did not want to leave China.

Felicity, Cindy and I enjoying a Pinot Grigio from Italy
Yummy duck at Lingo
Anna, Kiki and Akka - last Supper in China
Paul, Sam and Belinda - fellow Wuxites!

I had to pick up a package from NZ that Mum and Dad sent over with our neighbour, Roger from the 4 Seasons and I was so excited to find a few bottles of NZ wine - YAY!

Unfortunately the Chinese government cancelled the Oasis concert due to the fact that Noel had played in a free Tibet concert in 1997. I had to refund 8 tickets, which they were more than happy to do and then it was off for a lovely lunch at Element Fresh, great fresh food and yummy smoothies.

Mango Madness Smoothie!

City Shop proved fantastic for western treats and then it was off on an early afternoon train home for a relaxing afternoon doing housework - not quite that relaxing!

Mmmmmmmm.....souffle!

Have great week everyone!

Arohanui! xo