Catch-Up

So I kept putting off a post for a few reasons. Didn't upload pictures I wanted to post, hadn't made a decision about staying or not...all sorts of stuff.

Anyway, here is some catch-up about what's been up with me.

Last week on Thursday night I went to a cocktail party at the financial building (aka, the bottle opener) for work. After making tentative plans on countless occasions and them always falling through, I ended up there by accident. June asked if I wanted to come with her for an event being held by EHL, a hospitality college in Switzerland. It wasn't until we were on our way there that I knew it was in the bottle opener. We smoozed in the lounge on the 92nd floor, eating tuna tartar and sushi with wine and then strawberry/marshmallow kabobs while sipping champange. It was very cool to look outside the window and look DOWN dowards the JinMao tower and the highest bar in the world (where I had been about two weeks ago).
I have now been to the three giants of the PuDong skyline and don't need to worry about crossing off another on my list until the finish the Shanghai Tower (shown in a mock-up here on the far right) in 2014.
As I said in my last post, I went to see Swan Lake performed by the Russian State Ballet on friday night. I was a little disappointed to see that there wasn't a live orchestra and they were instead going off a recording. Also, the Swan's arms were SO UNNATURALLY THIN that I actually found it distracting. I thought for sure one of those twigs was going to snap in the middle of the big finish. Look, I even found a picture of her online...Other than that it was very good. My favorite dancer by far was the Jester. He was funny and AMAZING. The way he lept about the stage it seemed like he was just short of flying away.

After the ballet I was stupid and thought I could walk to the bar. It was SOO FAR. HuaiHailu is looong. Meh. After I got there I was happy to find Isabelle behind the bar. If I remember correctly, in this picture is the first Long Island Ice Tea she ever made (which soon after became the first Long Island Ice Tea I ever drank).
Also, I wasn't joking about the guy in the chipmunk costume. We chatted for a bit and then I asked if I could try on the head of his costume. I assure you, that really is me under that head...On Sunday I got together with Lucy and some of her friends for karaoke. It was fun. A friend of her's from Hangzhou came and even though she didn't sing at all, she paid for all of us. It was very very nice of her. Here is the group at the karaoke place.Monday I can't even remember what I did. Tuesday I went to Bulldog again. Met Isabelle and then Megan and Nicole. We played gin rummy. I can't even remember the last time I played. It was fun.

Yesterday (thursday) was an interesting day at work. The morning was a Sports Meet. There were some three legged races...except with 10 people. So I guess that's an 11 legged race? There were races and relays and high jumps and long jumps and all sorts of fun stuff. I cheered my students on like a proud parent. Cuz I'm weird.

I took some picture but this is definately my favorite. This is one of my students, Henry, in the middle of breaking the school's high jump record. I forget exactly how high it was...I think it was 1.5 meters? I could be completely off.
That's really all I have for news right about now. It's Friday and I have today off (long weekend!!). I seriously need to clean my apartment. Isabelle will be here in a few hours for a knitting and L Word marathon. I should go clean. I also need to go to JingLingLu (the music street) cuz I snapped the G-string on my guitar this morning trying to tune YingLong up. Bah.

This has been a weird post of playing catch up. Hopefully I won't get this far behind in posting again.

Love,
Stephanie