So i know it has been an incredibly long time since I last posted, but hey what can I say...such is life. The top three things on my mind right now are...
1) A student throwing up all over the table in my 9am Saturday morning class. Great way to start the day!
2) Local restaurant staff doing group stretching on the sidewalk to get prepared for the day
3) Mother's Day
Working and living in Shanghai has continued to be quite an experience. I am completely content with living in Shanghai (although miss the mountains and open space)! It has everything any Westerner would need. Just got my hair highlighted from a Brit at the Hilton...definitely can't trust Chinese salons since everyone has more or less the same color and type of hair. Try teaching curly, dark blond and light blond, and dark brown and light brown to a group of Chinese kids. Let me tell you, not that easy! Me walking in with curly thick blondish in some spots brownish hair with layers, would not go over well. Stopped at Starbucks on the way back to grab a friend a piece of cake, before dipping into my lunch of a homemade organic veggie salad with homemade vinaigrette. Life is pretty good. It's like living in New York but being able to afford actually living! Although I ride my bike almost everywhere, being able to hop in a taxi without thinking about how the 10 minute cab ride will effect my bank account is pretty nice! And I have also been able to save money to top it off. Never would have happened in New York...as a student.
Living in Shanghai is good, working in Shanghai is...OK. Although I work for a pretty great company, it is quite large and quite corporate. Highlights are meeting Bob Iger (C.E.O. of Disney Worldwide) and having him show me his new Ipad while playing the "My humps" music video by Black Eyed Peas. Now, imagine a 50 or so year old businessman of one of the largest corporations in the world showing you a music video of a scantily clad Fergie bouncing to the Peas..quite a laugh, and quite a cool guy too. Also, being able to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D before it hit theatres anywhere, and getting a sneak peak at the Prince of Persia with some recording detector to make sure no one in the theatre was recording any bit of the unreleased, still in production film....is all pretty cool. Besides that, work is mostly non-challenging, which is a challenge for me in itself. I have started to think about grad school for either a Masters in Social Work or Masters in International Relations..but hey, those are just thoughts and any input is greatly appreciated.
I am looking forward to meeting my dad and step mom in Hawaii in July and can't wait! Will be the first time out of China in 10 months! And...am awaiting my mom's arrival who will also be working with me at Disney...but definitely at a different school. Who would have thought, my mom and I in matching uniforms in China. Looking forward to a Meditteranean dinner this evening, pita bread, hummus, and fallafel :) Life is good.
Living as an expat typically means living in a transient community with friends constantly coming and going. In this case, my good friend and boss, Devon, is leaving. She has been here from the beginning and she has definitely been a positive presence in my life both at work and outside of work. Even though she is moving on to bigger and better things like getting a Master's at the Teachers College at Columbia University, it will be sad to see her go! :( So... in true Shanghai style, what better way to kick off the beginning of the end of Shanghai for her than a BBQ at her apartment at the Ritz. Not a bad way to spend the day hunh? Not only did this mean gorgeous grounds for lying on their nicely cushioned lawn chairs while tanning in the sun, but also the use of their two gorgeous grills, a trampoline, a basketball/tennis/soccer field, a pool, and all while taking in the great views of the Shanghai skyline. A small group of friends spent the afternoon replicating a lazy Sunday for the average American with a backyard barbecue. We snaked on chips, salsa, and guacamole, drank corona and Tsingtao (just a little piece of China,) and grilled burgers and ribs. With Heinz Kethcup and Mustard, and Garden of Eden tortilla chips, what could be better? Its the small things that keeps us going. We got to see the sun set and the moon rise, took great action shots of trampoline jumping, dove into the pool with make shift swimsuits, or lack there of, and enjoyed our last days with Devon. 
Burgers, beer, friends, a pool...there was no other place I would have rather been. 
