The Good, The Bad, and The Pink

The Good

-I went shopping and out to lunch with June yesterday (Jane and Zeno couldn't make it). Here is a picture of her wearing the new necklace she bought.-We ate delicious soup dumplings that are a famous Shanghai food. You drink the broth out with a straw, then rip into the dumpling and eat. Yum.
-After a day of walking around the markets I have quite a bounty. And cheap too! Everything you see below cost me (total) under $25 America. Tons of beads, jewelry thread, new pliers, a whole package of 100% wool yarn, pair of needles, clasps and metal rings. Last night I couldn't help but get started and ended up making a necklace that I am wearing right now.
-I figured out a good use for the sinks of my balconies. FOOT BATHS! After all my walking this weekend when I got home on Sunday I filled one with hot water and some body wash and just had a lovely soak.

-So on Saturday I started up my computer and guess what? The speaker works fine! I have no idea what the problem was in the first place, but now I have sound in both speakers again.

The Bad

-On Friday, I went with Charlotte, Lisa and Amy to get our work visas. I am calling this a bad only because we had to sit around and wait for FOUR HOURS.

-Coming home from the Jazz festival I hit my head on the ceiling of the bus. OW.

-This is a 6 day work week. Ugh.

-Teachers are going to be observing one of my classes on Wednesday and Tuesday. I am stressed out about this.


The Pink

-I am labeling this last section "The Pink" because nothing terribly ugly happened this weekend, so this section is kind of a "Mixed Blessings" section. I am calling it the pink because of a laundry accident I had this weekend. I accidentally washed a new red shirt with the rest of my laundry. Although there was some damage, most of my laundry made it out unscathed. The worst of it was my new white shirt has become my new pink shirt. If it was an even pink I wouldn't really care, but it's got spots on it. Here is a picture of the culprit and the damage. (All the laundry looks more pink in real life.)
-Another mixed blessing was that I had people wanting to take pictures with me again yesterday. Including a monk, oddly enough. I am calling this a mixed blessing because it always amuses me and makes me feel a little special that people want to take pictures with me, but at the same time it gets annoying fast and does tug at my insecurities that maybe people just want a picture because they think I look weird.

-Today I was a part of the flag raising ceremony because my students asked me to. They wanted a foreign opinion about the SanLu milk problem. They said to state my opinion, but to not be too critical of China. I ended up saying something along the lines that it made me nervous but that I hoped that this would make companies more careful and honest in the future. I'm glad they felt that they could ask me, but I can't tell if it went ok or not.

-Today marks my anniversary. I have been in Shanghai for exactly a month. I'm not really sure why I consider this a mixed blessing. I've made it this far, I suppose, but I'm still far from coming home. Time seems to have sped up and slowed down at the same time.


I should get back to worky works, I suppose.
Love,
Stephanie