Can working in Pudong actually be good for me?

So a lot has happened since I last wrote something, including my office moving to the far reaches of Pudong, which is way way further away from my apartment at People's Square. As a result of this, I also had to abandon Chinese classes because my teacher lives in Zhongshan Park. Surely she could have endured the extra 10 stops on the subway to get to my new office?

These things, plus the heat and a holiday in Europe meant that I got pretty lazy in terms of Chinese learning and trying to be healthy (too hot to walk anywhere, lots of using MealBay).

For a few other reasons, I'm trying to get into some more healthy habits, including staying on top of my blogs (now numbering four), being more proactive in my social life, studying again, eating a bit better, and exercising a bit more. Other hobbies will hopefully get picked up again later. My phone is back up and running too (it broke down on holiday and needed a new screen), so that gives me mobile internet and photo uploading, and I am trying to get into the habit of noting down things I want to write about later.  

The new office in the middle of nowhere actually helps with a couple of these. I need to wake up earlier, walk a bit further, and can spend about an hour in transit listening to language and science podcasts, flicking through flashcards, or drafting blog posts like I'm doing now (or watching episodes of Battlestar Galactica). There is a severe lack of eateries at the new locale too, so I have to plan meals, which are generally healthier than the offerings at the cafeteria.

Anyway, none of this is really that interesting, but hopefully it will lead to some positive stuff for me, and some more interesting posts for you!

Posted via email from Banana Undercover

Getting more...exposed...to China

I know I haven't updated in forever, and a bunch of little reasons add up to no real excuses.  I am still in China, though, and my Chinese is improving, and I've managed to get out of here to go back to Europe for a definitely needed summer holiday (which doesn't stop me from wanting another one!).

My office has moved out to the far reaches of Pudong, which kills me as I live in Puxi and our old office was walking distance from my apartment.  We only moved in this week, so there are still rooms being finished, and we apparently had to drag our internet out from Puxi, which apparently makes it even slower than normal.  I have been assured that we are getting fibre installed soon, and it can't come quickly enough.  In the meantime, the internet is down, and I'm using the lull to tell the world about a fairly traumatic experience I had a couple of nights ago.

I had gotten out of the office pretty late, so by the time I got back to Puxi it was well after dark.  I decided to take a shortcut home down an alleyway behind my apartment block.  It's only a few minutes' walk away from People's Square, so quite central, but poorly lit.  I've never had a problem walking down there before, so I didn't anticipate any trouble that night.  So I'm walking along, and I see a little white light shining ahead, maybe from a pen light.  As I get closer, I can see that there's a middle-aged Chinese guy sitting on a scooter.  He redirects the light so I have no doubt that what he has in his hand is...his penis.  I had no idea what to do at this point, and fervently hoped that what was coming out of it was just urine (I can't believe I actually /wanted/ to see someone pissing in the street right in front of me.  This all happened in the space of a few seconds and a few steps, so that by the time he evacuated his family jewels all over the concrete, I was pretty much standing right in front of him.  I actually had to stop walking in order to not get anything on me.  I had a serious WTF expression on my face for a couple of seconds, studiously not looking down or making eye contact, until he calmly motioned for me to keep walking.  

I felt like I should have screamed something at him, but as well as being completely shell-shocked, I figured he probably wanted such attention in the first place.  

This is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me, and I wish it hadn't been right around the corner from where I live.  I didn't feel unsafe, but I did feel fairly unclean afterwards, so I don't think I'll be taking that shortcut after hours again.

Why are people such freaks?

Posted via email from Banana Undercover