Travel Plans

This semester, I'm trying to get on top of my travel plans early. As much as I loved last semester, I didn't get to travel as much as I would have liked to, mostly because I couldn't get anything planned in a frugal, timely manner.

As of now, I have three solid travel plans. In about a week, I'm going up north to Harbin, China. For those who are unfamiliar with Harbin, it's a city in the middle of nowhere. Harbin is a frozen tundra that annually carves an elaborate city out of ice. Harbin also houses the largest white tiger sanctuary in the world. I'll only be there for three days, therefore limiting my chances of frostbite and hypothermia. Fun times.

I'll For Spring Break, I'm headed to Thailand: Bangkok and Phuket. A few friends and myself are headed out for a week of temples, curry, and beaches! Then, in March, I'll hopefully be headed to Panang and Kuala Lampur, Malaysia. I want to head to each location for two days. I've never been to Malaysia, and I don't really know much about it. Should be fun?

Finally, I have tentative plans to go out to Tibet in April. After the program ends, a few friends and I are hoping to spend a week in Lhasa, Tibet. Lhasa is the capital of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the former home of the Dalai Lama. After visiting Tibet once a few years back, I have felt a great spiritual pull to return. Though my plans are not yet finalized, I am set on returning this spring.

In this year, I will have visited China, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Tibet, Tanzania, Zanzibar, and possibly India this winter. Oh, and that place I call home, the USA! It's going to be a busy year!

Shanghai Saturday Mornings

I have little to no interest in being productive before the hour of noon on Saturday mornings. I get up, enjoy a quiet breakfast, and then watch endless hours of my hulu queue list (my morning of Saturday cartoons.) Frankly, it's been quite a week. I haven't even been in Shanghai a full week yet, and already I've picked up where I left off. Going out with friends, being complained at by those same friends for my healthier eating habits, and of course, the feeling of constant movement here in the Jia. If it's not the endless emails, it's the travel planning and dinner plans and gym workouts. Not that i'm complaining at all... I love the stream of events that keep me moving at all hours of wakefulness. There is always something to do, something to see or somewhere to go. Hence, when I get a few moments of simple nothing on a Saturday morning, I savor them for all they are worth.

I can't say i'm currently limited to Saturday mornings. I have (surprisingly) turned into an early riser. I get up at least an hour before anyone else, eat , and enjoy a cup of coffee with my pile of email and the nytimes.com . It's almost like meditating.

I guess what i'm so shocked by is how different things are this time around. This week I had to go pick up some laundry supplies at my ever favorite Tesco supermarket. I remember writing a post very early on about the horrors of Chinese supermarkets. As I went in to get my detergent, I couldn't help but notice how much easier it was. I could communicate (barely) with the clerks, navigate the crowded isles, and even find a few more obscure items. The cultural adjustment is just amazing to me. Only a few months ago, Tesco was my worst nightmare realized in a packed grocery store. Now, it's just another familiar place.

If this is only the beginning of the semester, I can't wait to see what's to come.

I never thought Shanghai would be COLD.

However, after watching actual snow fall from the sky yesterday and freezing my butt off on the way back from an acrobatic performance, the ideas seems vaguely more familiar. Cold here is biting, damp and rigid. There is no soft snow or gentle cool breeze filled with flurry, only piercing wind and some seriously frozen over puddles. Luckily, it's too warm for any snow on the ground, but that certainly doesn't help the cold factor.

So much has happened in three days. I've taken six hours of intensive Chinese review, gone ice skating, seen an acrobatic performance, learned how to play majong, and revisited some favorite habits. I feel like I never left, which in this climate can be the best feeling in the world. No adjustment (minus the cold thing,) no trying to figure out favorite spots and NO trying to decipher taxi cab lingo. Of course we're all jumping back into our favorite bar spots. There is something utterly satisfying about dancing the night away with your best friends, simply enjoying our youth.

It's odd to miss everything all at once. I missed being in Shanghai, and now I miss being home with my family and close friends. I'd like to say i'm a satisfied person, but I always seem to be looking somewhere else. Maybe that makes me lucky, that there is always somewhere in the world I would like to be and people I would like to be with. As much as that may pull away from the present, it also makes me feel connected.

Anyway, I have workout routines to do and chinese to learn. More to come :)

Part II: The Second Semester

First, I must apologize.

I didn't mean to neglect my blog, but unfortunately I did. I got busy, I got caught up, and then I forgot.

However, for those of you who are still reading, I am starting anew.

I plan on (hopefully) posting weekly this semester. My main accomplishment this winter break has been coming up with a series of schedules for myself, including weekly reminders that I have to email my physical trainers (knee injury), keep up with my mandarin vocabulary, and regularly update my blog. New Year; new routine.

SO, here I am again. Sitting at my desk at home, awaiting another early morning of travel and a brand new semester of fun. Last semester was incredible, but I'm planning on doing even more this semester. Along with many inter-Shanghai adventures, I plan on going to Harbin, Cambodia, India, Thailand, MAYBE Tibet and Nepal, and maybe a few in between. Last semester, I got oriented and comfortable. I enjoyed daily life, made a home, and settled in. Now, I'm ready to get out and see what all of Asia has to offer.

If I wern't about to fall asleep, I'd keep writing. For now though, I'll say goodnight, and welcome to part II :)