To sum up

Well much has happened. I'd like to start with a little list. Things I miss and things I don't miss.
Things I miss:
- speaking Chinese
- using chopsticks
- being able to buy food anywhere on the streets
- reading Chinese

Things I don't miss:
- the smell of piss on the streets
- the smell of shit on the streets
- having to avoid stepping in shit on the streets
- people spitting everywhere
- having to avoid stepping in people's spit
- people staring at me where ever I go
- not being able to enjoy personal space
- the walking
- the stairs
- not being able to always adequately communicate what it is I'm trying to say
actually the list could go on from here.

Anyways, I'm just bitching a bit because it's taking me a while to warm up to Shanghai.
Upon arriving here, the school wasn't waiting at the airport. I got out and didn't see anything with my name on it. I waited for over an hour and then took a taxi into town. After the long and exhausting and horrific flight, the last thing I wanted to do was wait around the airport. Anyway, I told the cab driver to take me to what I thought was the school. Y160 later, I found that the address I had was not for the school but for their main office. Luckily somebody was there and she spoke a bit of English. She got in contact with Charles (the director for the school) and he directed me to the hotel that I was supposed to be staying it. Once I met up with him, he thankfully refunded my money for the cab and then told me that I had an hour and a half to get refreshed and I had to be back out so that we could go looking at apartments. So after I had a shower I met up with him and we had dinner. Then we were off to the apartment I was supposed to be staying at. I thought the place was really nice and it was surprisingly clean. I found it curious however that the person that seemed to be living there at the time didn't look like they were moving out. In fact I asked Charles when the person was supposed to be moving and he said the next morning. This chick's stuff was everyone. She wasn't even close to being packed. I knew that this was going to pose a problem for me the next day. Anyway, fast forward to the next day, she was supposed to be moving in the morning, we got there around 3pm and she STILL WASN'T PACKED OR MOVED OUT!! She was just getting her shit together. So now I'm waiting at the door with Nick (one of Charles' assistants) and Mr. Peach the driver......waiting for this girl to get packed and get going. After a little while Nick suggests that we take a walk so that they can show me the area and familiarize myself with places to shop and the location of the nearest metro (subway) station. We're gone for about an hour and it was a painful one too. I was still tired from trying to adjust to the time difference coupled with the jet lag and it was raining to boot. We got back and she was still at it. Anyway, they were all talking and arguing and trying to clean up and I was trying to keep my eyes open. Eventually they left and I took to settling in. Monday morning came and I got the run down of the two schools I was supposed to teach at. My morning classes are at the kindergarten and the kids are very young. If you know me at all, you know I don't like children so my morning classes are pretty painful. You may ask what I'm doing here in the first place but that's a story for another day. Anyway, my afternoon classes are in the middle school (another campus) and those classes aren't too bad. For the most part, the students are of the older high school variety and they are ok. However, most of them have no interest in being there and teaching can be difficult. Especially when they aren't paying attention and in some cases are sleeping. But in these classes I actually feel like a teacher, as opposed to a performing monkey for a bunch of kids slightly older than toddlers.
Anyways I make it through the week at the schools but at home I was having a huge problem. My DVD player wasn't working properly and there was no Internet. I made it clear to Charles several times that I needed Internet in my place. Anyway, after alot of back and forth, I've finally gotten connected. They were in here yesterday and the technician finally got me hooked up. I bothered Daisy (another of Charles' assistants) about it all week. I kept pestering her. I was ruthless but I didn't care. I got what I wanted. So currently I'm getting through my days between the two schools and am looking for extra work during my spare time. Charles has set up a Saturday class for me which should bring in some extra dough but I need to do some more. We'll see how it all works out. As usual I'll keep you posted.
In other news, after getting word to Klaver that I was in town, we made plans to meet up. He's been to my place a couple times and we even went out on Friday night. We're not located as close as I was hoping we would be but on the plus side we're not very far away either. It's about 4 subway stops apart. In total it'd probably take an hour or so to get to each other. 15 minutes to walk to the metro, then about 20 minutes on the train, then another 15 minute walk to each other's place. I suppose it could be worse. We could be on opposite sides of town. In any event, having Klaver nearby will keep me feeling normal. It's taking me some time to really feel Shanghai. It's very different from Wuhan. Wuhan felt homey in a short space of time and it's not a very expensive town but the down side is the people constantly staring. Shanghai is a bustling city, not as many people stare however, it's a bit more expensive here. I don't know if it's any better or worse, it's just different. Anyway, that's the scoop for now. We'll see how the upcoming weeks go.

TTFN