We've been slowly figuring out how to communicate and get things accomplished in Shanghai. My Mandarin skills, while improving, are still incredibly poor, so it's helpful to accompany attempts to speak with appropriate non-verbal signals; however, that's easier said than done. Today I learned, after several attempts, that making your hands look like they're skiing down a hill means "subway"; as you can imagine, this has already come in quite handy. Unfortunately ...

I'm sitting on the bus heading to school for the last teaching day of my second cycle. It's just after 7am and the same Chinese radio show is playing; I can now sing along with a couple of the commercials- ba-ling-ling-er-ba-liu-ling-ba- I know it's a phone number, but have no idea what they're selling. I promised that I'd write about the good stuff, but to be perfectly honest I'm still kind of cranky. Living and working somewhere is not at all the same as back-p...

Well this weekend officially marked the halfway point for my time in Shanghai, and I have to admit that there was some relief in making it over the hump. It's not that I don't love many aspects of this amazing city, but it's been a rougher go than I was prepared for. This past week was particularly difficult.Emergency Kit Employment #1: Iodine and PolysporinMonday arrived, and with it the start of a new cycle at work. I started a new class in a new room. Apparent...

I woke up at 5:30 and, for the first time since I'd arrived, desperately wanted to stay in bed; alas, that was not meant to be. Damn, I wish I had bought the t-shirt that stated, "Shanghai is the city that doesn't sleep for 24 hours" as that was becoming my experience. We arrived in the town of Tongli, a beautiful thousand-year-old canal town, got out at the depot and boarded the tram to the front gate where tickets were purchased; I suddenly felt like I was ente...

I've been negligent with my blog- apologies. Apparently old habits die hard. The first week here I didn't feel that I had that much to write about. I went to work and came home; it was much like being in Toronto only more isolated and with a healthy dose of jet lag thrown in for good measure. Then the weekend finally came, and we had a fabulous time ending with an eventful move to a new building which left us with no internet for several days. Perhaps I'll write ...