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bits and pieces
May. 26th, 2006 02:42 pmI really need to start updating this thing more often. It's not like I have anything better to do most evenings. Except for reading ridiculous amounts of manga (hurry up with those Gokusen translations, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
youkosiren!).
So... stuff. Last weekend was great. Saturday was fairly uneventful; first Saturday classes, then the gym, then western grocery shopping, then home. Relaxing. And Sunday was a lot of fun. In the morning I went with Eileen to the fabric markets on Lujiabang Lu, south of the Bund. It's a huge three-story building packed with stalls full of fabric. You can buy fabric by the meter or you can order clothing at the various stalls. The easiest thing to do is give them an item to be copied, tell them what sort of fabric you want, then begin the bargaining. The second easiest is to point to something hanging in their stall and ask for a copy of that. Less easy are bringing in a picture and giving a description. I tried all four methods on my last trip, and when I go back on Sunday to pick everything up, I'll have a better idea of how well each works. The markets themselves are a cosplayer's dream, with almost every kind of fabric, and so, so cheap. Good silk you can bargain down to maybe six or seven dollars a meter.
After the fabric markets I went home and ate lunch, then headed out to Hengshan Lu. Thanks to the wonders of the interweb, I actually managed to find other gaming geeks here in Shanghai. These are a few American (and one Canadian) guys working here for various video game companies, and one of them was putting together a gaming group. So three of us met up, played in some random western restaurant until they noticed we had cards and kicked us out, then moved on to a nearby cafe who didn't really seem to care. We played until about quarter to ten, then I took the train mostly home, though I had to catch a taxi for the last bit. I got home a little before 11, and quickly whipped up some no-bake cheesecake from a box.
Why was I making cheesecake at 11 PM on a Sunday evening? Well, the peanut butter chocolate bars I anonymously left in the staffroom were very well-received, and I had lots of fun with the whole mystery baked goods thing. So I did it again last Monday, this time with the lemon cheesecake bars. Again, people enjoyed them and kept wondering who was leaving out sweets. So I've decided I will do this every Monday: get to work early to stick the treats in the fridge, then sneak in at 12:15 when all the teachers are at lunch to set them out, then remove the plate at 3 when most teachers are in class. I'm going to see how long it takes them to catch me. I'm hoping they never do.
The second-graders have earned their red scarves. They're growing up so fast... *sniffle*. There's only five weeks left in this, my final semester here, so I'm feeling preemptively natsukashii. Speaking of this my final semester, I wrote Michael an email that made heavy use of the words regret, miss, and sorry, to let him know this was my final semester. His very nice and understanding reply included this: "Please be assured that if you ever want to come back to Shanghai, there's always a place for you in the school." Which made me feel nice. I really will miss this school, and the kids, and even the semester plans and weekly reviews. But I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a teacher, and there's too many important things back at home I need to take care of first. Which reminds me, I need to contact United Airlines about my ticket home.
youkosiren!).So... stuff. Last weekend was great. Saturday was fairly uneventful; first Saturday classes, then the gym, then western grocery shopping, then home. Relaxing. And Sunday was a lot of fun. In the morning I went with Eileen to the fabric markets on Lujiabang Lu, south of the Bund. It's a huge three-story building packed with stalls full of fabric. You can buy fabric by the meter or you can order clothing at the various stalls. The easiest thing to do is give them an item to be copied, tell them what sort of fabric you want, then begin the bargaining. The second easiest is to point to something hanging in their stall and ask for a copy of that. Less easy are bringing in a picture and giving a description. I tried all four methods on my last trip, and when I go back on Sunday to pick everything up, I'll have a better idea of how well each works. The markets themselves are a cosplayer's dream, with almost every kind of fabric, and so, so cheap. Good silk you can bargain down to maybe six or seven dollars a meter.
After the fabric markets I went home and ate lunch, then headed out to Hengshan Lu. Thanks to the wonders of the interweb, I actually managed to find other gaming geeks here in Shanghai. These are a few American (and one Canadian) guys working here for various video game companies, and one of them was putting together a gaming group. So three of us met up, played in some random western restaurant until they noticed we had cards and kicked us out, then moved on to a nearby cafe who didn't really seem to care. We played until about quarter to ten, then I took the train mostly home, though I had to catch a taxi for the last bit. I got home a little before 11, and quickly whipped up some no-bake cheesecake from a box.
Why was I making cheesecake at 11 PM on a Sunday evening? Well, the peanut butter chocolate bars I anonymously left in the staffroom were very well-received, and I had lots of fun with the whole mystery baked goods thing. So I did it again last Monday, this time with the lemon cheesecake bars. Again, people enjoyed them and kept wondering who was leaving out sweets. So I've decided I will do this every Monday: get to work early to stick the treats in the fridge, then sneak in at 12:15 when all the teachers are at lunch to set them out, then remove the plate at 3 when most teachers are in class. I'm going to see how long it takes them to catch me. I'm hoping they never do.
The second-graders have earned their red scarves. They're growing up so fast... *sniffle*. There's only five weeks left in this, my final semester here, so I'm feeling preemptively natsukashii. Speaking of this my final semester, I wrote Michael an email that made heavy use of the words regret, miss, and sorry, to let him know this was my final semester. His very nice and understanding reply included this: "Please be assured that if you ever want to come back to Shanghai, there's always a place for you in the school." Which made me feel nice. I really will miss this school, and the kids, and even the semester plans and weekly reviews. But I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a teacher, and there's too many important things back at home I need to take care of first. Which reminds me, I need to contact United Airlines about my ticket home.