Month: September 2007

it’s one month and three days to be exact. the YHs came to shanghai one month ago towing some 70+ kg of luggages and lugging yh3 & 4 who’s total weight amt to abt 25kg. the first few days we had survived in wensen’s apartment. thanks and grateful for his willingness to risk the structural integrity of the place with yh3 & 4 around :O
for the first two weeks, it’s like playing RPGs. u need to first collect artifact #1, then proceed to location two to get artifact #2 before you can unlock secret door one to retrieve artifact #3, which will in turn reveals the next part of your quest. of coz in our case, the quest is already known way before hand, except the random encounters common in rpg adds EXCITEMENT to life from time to time. dun feel like recalling wat the artifacts are, but in any case, i have gotten the two final quest items by yesterday, one is called 境外人士居留许可 and the other is the 学生证. both of them have an expiry date tagged, and another round of quests will take place in about 5 mths time i guess 😐 you cant imagine the sianness when i think of that, so better put that aside now.
where study is concerned, we have managed to find yh3 a nursery to join. it’s difficult to find a place to study here in shanghai. probably we din received training in some tactics or something. his school starts from 0830-1630 on 一、三、五 and till 1700 on二、四. so on most days yh2 is the one who sent yh3 to school and back. for me, i had signed up for 7 modules this semester. still trying to adapt to a student’s life, except it’s now studying with yh3 and yh4 around. it’s almost impossible to find time to study during the day. peace only sets in when they are asleep. books & readings are piling, assignments are piling, may buddha/god/allah bless us all :O
the one most difficult thing that’s we are still trying to grapple with is the WEATHER. for once in life, weather forecast become so important! it’s quite easy to 感冒 and get sick here coz it can be very warm in the morning, and after the rain sets in in the afternoon, it’s very cold, plus the fact that it’s super windy here, so it adds to the coldness. and if it rains for a few days, you feel like you are living in a fridge while indoors, and any reason to stay put and not move is welcome :O
it’ll soon be national day and national day holiday 十一黄金周 here. the government has advanced working days from 4/10 and 5/10 to 29/9 and 30/9 so that pple can take a whole week’s break. so for me, i’ll be attending thursday lesson today, and friday lesson tomorrow, and it’ll be one week’s break in school.
that’s about all i feel like writing for now. will pick up to write some more soon i hope 🙂

weather here’s not as predictable as back home. it was sunny over the weekend, and *boom* out of a sudden (to me perhaps) a typhoon’s approaching fast. it was yellow alert for wind and blue alert for rain yesterday morning and the levels were escalated to amber for both. shanghai authority has ordered schools (K-12) to stop for one day. perhaps university students can judge for themselves so it’s not in the list. more detailed reports can be found here, here, and more. according to the latest news, Typhoon Wipha “韦帕” has been DOWNGRADED, which is great news! the effect to things is still great as you can read from these:

• “韦帕”未到先扰女足世界杯赛事
• 今早航班可能有大面积延误
• 申城景观灯首次避风关闭
• 本市紧急开会部署防汛防台
• “韦帕”今抵沪风力最高13级
• 全市中小学幼儿园今天停课
• 胡锦涛温家宝指示严防”韦帕”

which are some headlines off 新闻晨报’s web.
this is my first encounter with an typhoon approaching this lifetime, not in the face, but the wind’s surely strong and the rain’s surely heavy. and the temperature takes an obvious dip (esp wif the many hot days prior to this). still have a lesson this afternoon, hope the rain dun come in too soon :O

was hunting for some conference that will be held in China to attend last year but din realise there’s this conference that’s taking place where i’m at now (not that i can attend the conference now that i’m attending school). saw this reflection by Clay Burell which was captured in one of my google alerts, and here’s the conference web/blog for record purpose 🙂

this card came in on Sep 2 07 while i was ‘lost’ in shanghai disconnected from the world. cant find the word to describe the feeling when i saw the card today. thank you 倩吟 for remembering the day and now that you are also a 小老师, enjoy, take care and happy teachers’ day too 🙂
oh btw, it was Teachers’ Day in China on Sep 10. To all my teachers (past and present and future), thank you for your guidance, else i wouldn’t have make it here today. happy teachers’ day and may you be healthy and happy all year round 🙂