A productive week & sunny weekend!

Wow… the weeks fly by so quickly… and not to mention the YEARS!! Tomorrow I will turn 24 and I cannot believe it! This year I feel weirdly wiser, mature and at peace. I think it’s partly due to my year in China, living away and now in my second year living away… I’ve definitely grown a lot as a person. Anyway, let me tell you about my week!

Halloween was last Monday so I did my last day of Halloween lessons as I’d missed school the Monday before so those students didn’t get to have that lesson. That evening I met my lovely Chinese friend, Layla, for dinner and a catch up! We ate in my area at a nice restaurant. We ordered a dish I haven’t had yet since I’ve returned – kungpao Chicken! (this is a great dish of chicken and nuts mixed in a sweet/spicy sauce) We also had a lovely green tea Chinese dessert, vegetables and rice.

The meal was absolutely gorgeous. After the meal, my other Chinese friend, Gavin, had kindly agreed to meet me and help me buy an E-BIKE!  I’d seen a shop not too far from where I lived which sold scooters. I’ve wanted one for ages but have either been too far from the centre, moving apartments, not enough money or not had the guts! Anyway, we excitingly heading to the street bike shop and I did it! I bought a gorgeous pink electric scooter. It was scary to ride at first but I’ve gotten the swing of it so well and with the weather being so lovely this weekend – I’ve used it loads!

So one of my best mates in Shanghai, Furkan, had been away for a month in Turkey but finally last Monday he returned! By Tuesday evening we were at a lovely Indian restaurant, called Vedas, having a scrumptious dinner and a catch up!

My week flow by as I now have my routine of work, tutoring and then MMA. In no time it was my favourite day of the week – Friday! I love that I have my Fridays off work. I’ve kind of turned my Fridays into my productive day, in which I usually wake up and clean my room, have my Chinese class around 11/11:30, then I grab lunch in MetroCity and head to a different café/study location every week to sit down and lesson plan/write articles/do work etc. I love it. This Friday just gone I met up with Furkan who took me to a café/bar called The Press. It was such a lovely place to work; being China’s oldest newspaper building (The Shun Pao).

After studying there I headed for tutoring and after tutoring I came home, and took the bike for a spin around the nearby areas (as I forgot to mention Friday, Saturday and today weather has been BEAUTIFUL – around 22 degrees!). The next day (Saturday) I made plans to head to an ancient town in Shanghai, named Fengjing. I’ve been wanting to go there for ages and as the weather was so sunny that day it seemed like the perfect day to go! We all met at Jinjiang Park Station and from there caught the one-hour bus to the Fengjing. When we looked at the map we saw that we had travelled to the edge of Shanghai, almost to the border! It made me think just how vast Shanghai is and how much there is yet to see.

It was an absolutely amazing day out. I literally felt like I wasn’t in Shanghai anymore. I’m writing for the global times and my article about whether Shanghai is too western has just been published. I think my trip here reiterates my point in my article that there is definitely real China in Shanghai; well the outskirts of Shanghai for sure.

Anyway we explored the town. It was simply stunning and too picturesque to imagine. The town was rich in Chinese culture, history and food. We had an amazing lunch, tried lovely desserts and I even did some shopping (bought some trousers, an arm blanket for my scooter and warm pyjamas for the upcoming Winter).

As we wandered round the beautiful, old town we discovered an old Peoples Commune that had been turned into a museum. It was so incredible to walk through as propaganda and various items were still present from the Mao Era. It was amazing history before my eyes! I felt this cool chill inside me as I walked around, saw the Mao badges, the books everyone had to learn at school and various signs/writings of propaganda in support of Mao.

After a long lovely day we took the looong bus back to the metro but it was a nice time to wind down and relax. That evening, after arriving home, Sarah, Andru and I went to a friends to relax and chill. He has two dogs so it was quite fun to play with them! We opted for a chilled evening as it had been an early start that day and the next day I had tutoring and lesson planning to do.

So today (Sunday) was an absolutely amazing day in regards to the weather being lovely, hot and sunny again. However, unfortunately I haven’t had the best day at all! I woke up and prepared for my 12 o clock tutoring class. However, the start of my bad day occurred as I arrived to the class an hour early! My tutoring boss had made a mistake and told me the wrong time. I was pretty frustrated as it was a hot day and I didn’t want to be waiting around, not to mention I had plans at 1:30! Anyway, in the end the class was cancelled and I was given 200rmb for the hassle. I was pretty annoyed as I could have stayed home and got all my work done that morning, anyway I decided to bite it on the head and get on with my day.

I headed to the salon to get my eyebrows done. After this I went and met my friend Teru for lunch at a café close to Loushanguan Road. The rest of the day I Spent with Furkan. He kindly helped me get rid of a creepy crawly beetle I’d noticed in the drawer of my room, he showed me the way on my e bike to my MMA gym and in no time the day was over! Today has been an average day, sort of productive but not as productive as it could have been. I wanted a massage and to get my hair cut but that didn’t get to happen. But never mind! We all have these kind of days don’t we? Where ever we are in the world.

I’ll be in touch!

Sabrina xxx