Monday 23 February 2009

Weekend Burnout

I apparently put all my weekend-ness into Friday night and then spent the other two days being a bum...

After work on Friday I got a knock on my door from Chris and the other foreign teachers. They were going to (drum roll please) Blue Frog! Anyone sensing a pattern here?

I already had plans with Isabelle and Lucy but those plans weren't until later so I headed out with them. Chris was kind enough that after he used his electric bike to drop Becky off, he swung back and got me. If I sign on for another year I am so going to get one of those things. Chris said the ones that are more like bikes and less like motorcycles can go for around 1,200RMB or like $180.

I had a cup of soup to stave me off until my late dinner, and some mojitos. Yum. When I left they were still hanging out, but I didn't want to be late to meet the girls. Isabelle scared the CRAP out of me by sneaking up behind me and grabbing me while I was waiting in the subway. Our plans were to go to Adobo, a Mexican restaurant in the French Concession. Lucy's plane was delayed so she was going to meet us there. When Isabelle and I got there, the place was PACKED. Apparently there was a joint birthday party going on. I can't remember the last time I heard that much Spanish! The kitchen was apparently closed so Isa and I turned around and went to what was going to be our second stop of the evening, "The Spot". After looking over their huge menu (seen below)...
Isa decided to get some sort of Thai spicy salad and I got a Greek Feta Pita Burger. The only weird thing about my burger was that they took the pita bread and cut it in half so that it was literally being used like a bun. I had a disc of pita that far extended the size of my burger both below and balancing on top of the patty. Once I stripped away the excess (to be used later for soup dipping) it was DELICIOUS. Lucy showed up just as we were finishing eating. We got our one free Ladies Night drink at the Spot but then decided to try and head back to Adobo to see if the crowd had thinned out a bit.

It had not. The same amount of people were there...and now they were drunk! Whoo! We talked to a waiter who agreed to let us pay 50RMB each and have whatever we wanted from the bar until 1AM. That was INSANE. When we went out to Sin I had to pay 70RMB for one mojito. We helped ourselves to shots of tequila (with salt and lime slices of course) and beer. After midnight things started to get really crazy and the drunk bartender literally started just pulling alcohol off the wall and pouring it into cups that people put in front of him. It was like being at a college party all over again.

The people were tons of fun. We were welcomed into their joint birthday party instead of treated like outsiders. We are even in the HUGE group picture that got taken about an hour after we arrived. We were taught how to say cheers in Spanish, we chatted and danced and then we watched in bemused horror as the birthday boy and girl were each presented with a cake and then immediately had their faces shoved into them. Which then turned into cake wrestling on the floor. Between that and spilled drinks the floor was sllippery as an ice rink.

Here is one picture from Friday night at Adobo that I mostly posted cuz a) we look silly and b) I finally wore that shirt mom got me for Christmas and I wanted her to see.
I was quite tired after that, but Lucy had heard about Shanghai Studio and wanted to go so we headed off. When we got there, we sat at a table for a minute before my favorite spot opened up. It's this low table with curtains around it and pillows to sit on/lean against. It speaks to the kid in me that misses building forts. Isa and I hung out there chatting and fighting off sleep while Lucy went dancing and socializing. Soon after we got yelled out for a waiter cuz he thought we actually had fallen asleep...doh! What party animals are we, huh? After that the club was starting to thin out so we all headed home.

After going to FOUR restuarant/clubs/bars on Friday night I was ready to spend the rest of the weekend relaxing. I slept late on Saturday then cleaned out my entire sinkful of dishes. Uck. I realized I hadn't played guitar in a very long time so I tuned YingLong up and rocked out for a bit. I learned how to play "Fear You Won't Fall" by Joshua Radin and I think it's my new favorite song to play on the piano. I also headed out to New York Pizza for dinner and got a four cheese white pizza that was quite tasty and made leftovers for Sunday.

Sunday I had to do correcting and lesson plans. My brain can't seem to concentrate lately so it makes it hard to focus and get stuff done at work. Which sadly means that I have to do work at home. Becky, the Canadian woman who has actual teaching experience, gave me some advice at the beginning of the year. One piece of advice was to stay as late as you had to so that you didn't have to bring work home with you. She said eventually doing that would just wear you down. I agree. Here's hoping my brain has restarted enough so that I can focus in the office now.

Sunday night I started to feel ill. I was supposed to have a video chat with my parents but that ended up not happening. I tried to fall asleep early. My dreams (nightmares?) were AWFUL. Every single one of them involved me throwing up. By the time I woke up I wasn't certain whether or not I HAD puked (I did not). I still don't feel 100% but I feel better now.

Well, Imma try to focus on work now so I can get my stuff DONE.

Much love!
Stephanie