Little surprises online

I found this website while looking for some info about the subway in Shanghai.
I was browsing through the links there,
and suddenly I saw this saying in the end of one of the links:
Communism is not dead. It just smells funny

LOL

I wonder who planted it there. It had nothing to do with the page!
and here is the link
I wonder how long it'll take this sentence to disappear...)

(click the picture to see it big)

Recovery

Water Calligraphy.
For training your brain

On Saturday I felt a bit better, so I allowed myself to join Liya's dinner at her place. She invited some ppl from school and she told me that I'm more than welcomed to come if I feel any better. I thought that a dinner at someones home is a really good idea for starting to do something after being sick. Dinner obviously was great, and the evening past so fast that I was really surprised it was already 1am. The next day I slept so good until almost noon. There's no words to describe how much a good night sleep is being taken for granted... After 3 or 4 nights that I woke up almost every hour, and when I finally woke up in the morning it was to end the nightmare of "sleeping" - this long good night sleep made me feel so much better.
I had to get my certificate from uni - the one for finishing my semester (ppl who stay for another semester don't pick it up now) so I decided I wanna show Rob where I studied and the area. It was a cold and beautiful day (like today) the sun is shining and the air is kinda clear and bright (well no blue blue skies but it's good enough for me). We picked up my certificate (they put it in a really nice red hardcover) and went to the park across the street from uni.
It was Sunday afternoon and there were a lot of ppl there- it was so nice to see them doing exercise on special outdoor gym equipment, and singing together, playing cards or badminton, painting, or writing calligraphy on the ground (they do it with water- just to practice, then it dries out and they can do it again). It was especially refreshing to see them do these things coz usually we see so many of them just wondering around the supermarket or the malls on weekends and we find it really terrible that they have nothing else to do but walk like zombies.

Exercising in the park
These facilities are everywhere,
and are being used by older ppl especially.

In the evening we went to a nice Italian restaurant in the center of town and then we went to a foot massage close to where Rob stayed the first weeks before we had the apartment. It was nice talking to the 2 ppl who gave us the massages, coz they were a lot more intelligent then the young girls and boys who work in the massage place next to where we live. They actually knew some things about other countries, let alone their own.

Sick (again...)

Had a very busy week... had 3 exams: one on general vocabulary and grammar, one in listening (a whole story on its own- I might tell you guys about the stupidity of this teacher in another post) and one oral exam. The day of the oral exam, which was really easy, I didn't feel very good. After the exam I went with most of the ppl from class to a nice pub that is really full at lunch time- coz they have really good food and for rather cheap. I already felt a bit worse there and when I went home I couldn't wait to be there already. Rob was home earlier than usual and I just fell into bed... He served me that day and the day after- when he came back from work... With his help and his mothers Homeopathy remedies I felt better in the evening - but still weak. Today we were suppose to go to an acrobatics show that one of his bosses has invited us to, with some other ppl from the company and some guests. I was happy to hear about the invite, and was looking forward to it, but now- even though I feel a bit better- there's no way I'll take the metro for an hour and walk outside so much (even walking to the kitchen is a bit hard at times), Let alone sit in a show with ppl I don't know and cough all the way through.
I wish I could go, I wish I could spend the evening with him. But I can't. And I'm sick. Sick and sick of being alone when I'm sick.

Busy weekend and new plans

Was a really full weekend... Rob's best friend from home, Kevin, who lives in Chengdu (capital of Sichuan) with his girlfriend Wang were here in Shanghai. On Friday we went for a nice dinner in the nice Indian restaurant, with Liya as well, and then we all went to Charles's birthday party- which was crowded and great... I got to meet all the ppl I never get to meet... But today's exam was on my mind, since it was the last exam (except for the listening exam tomorrow and the conversation one on Wednesday- but they don't count- there's not a lot to really study for them). I knew that I had to wake up at a certain point on Saturday, and study. So we went home "early" (3am) and I studied the next day, while Rob met the guys in town to walk around, and I met them for dinner in a really nice small Chinese restaurant. Working there was an 80 years old woman who helps her family so she wont get bored... She lived in Shanghai all of her life, and never wanted to leave even in the wars and cultural revolution when her parents and siblings left the big city. She had seen the city change from a prosperous city of the east in the 20's and 30's, to a place where the monthly salary was a pound of rice, and back to a developing city with commercials everywhere and rich ppl in every corner. She knew a lot of English (but we know all this from our friends who spoke Chinese to her) and you could see on her face that she is a gentle woman, with lots of humor and wisdom. I always look at ppl's wrinkles- this way you really see which expressions they used most of their lives. If a person was usually happy and smiley- you'll see these wrinkles, and the other way around. After dinner Rob and I went to the Eric Clapton concert (we got the tickets from his bro and sis for x-mas) and even though I was never one of his biggest fans, we really really enjoyed it- thanks to his great talent. It's amazing to see this 60 something year old man playing the guitar as if it's more natural to him than breathing... It was a great show- and apparently, as I learned after the concert- it was his first time ever in China...
On Sunday I stayed home studying for a little while when Rob went shopping for food- so we could cook dinner for Kevin and Wang. It was a really nice evening, and they stayed until late - which would have been even better if I didn't have to wake up at 6am today- to be on time for my exam.
I went shopping with Liya today after the exam (which wasn't easy but wasn't too hard) and I bought some nice stuff... I figured that in Europe and Israel these things like coats and such are much more expensive and that I should buy it here for the years to come, just the same way I did 2 years ago. It payed off- I have a new big coat- very nice one, and it was only 26 Euro (after bargaining it from 50...).
I was looking at the Shanghai cultural website and saw that there's a Roger Waters concert soon here in Shanghai. Dorian my dear has been talking about this concert on her blog for ages (she's gonna see it in Germany) and she made me so jealous that I decided to see how much it is here... I called and decided to book two tickets - it's on February 12th- and I just can't wait. Sitting in the Eric Clapton's concert made me wanna go to a concert I know the words of it's songs and can relate to. It made me wanna go to the Roger Waters concert even more... I'm so excited!!! I'm actually gonna see him on stage!!! I've been listening to Pink Floyd since I'm about 17-18 (well till then it was Beatles and the same kind of Alternative Rock I still like today) and till now they are my absolute favorite- that I thought I'd never see on stage. So I'll settle for Roger Waters alone, and I'm sure I will never regret... My sister is gonna be SO jealous! can't wait to tell her...

Things that will get your photo taken in China:

- Having blond ("yellow") hair
- Having Hair on your arms
- Using a mobile phone
- Sitting
- Being

(from "ChinesePod.com". I'll add mine at some point too...)

Last week of uni

This is a wishing tree.
You buy a nice paper, write your wish on it and throw it on the tree.
If it stays on it- your wish will come true...

That's it. There's only one more week of going to uni. This is the last studying week and the next week we have 3 exams, Monday to Wednesday- one exam each. I haven't been studying too hard, just a bit, and I hope I'll get over this laziness for just a few days so I don't ruin the whole purpose of going to uni which is to learn Chinese... I know that I have made progress and I can speak and understand a lot more than before, but I also know that if I had studied harder I would have been much better...
Next week at this time I'll be after the last exam and I wont study on a regular basis again for at least a few months (next is German...). I don't have a job, and I only plan on travelling in the next few months (not all the time but some of it). I wonder if I should be just happy about it (coz obviously I am) or a bit worried that I'm doing nothing with myself. But I know that just a month or two of not doing anything special will go so fast I wont even notice... Just hope I'll keep to the promise I made to myself and actually study at home from the so many Chinese study books I have... Maybe I should have bought a wish on that tree. Wish I had some more ambition and discipline...

Flash Back

When I left my apartment in Haifa, I felt really sad that I had to do that. True, it was my decision to leave Israel all of a sudden and go to China, but it was still hard to move out of the warm and cozy place I set for Rob and me.
Today I was thinking about my little TV set I used to have in my bedroom, the one I almost never used, coz I had a normal one in the living room, and living alone- I didn't feel the need to get away and watch TV in my room. Suddenly it reminded me the last time I had used it- it was the last morning I woke up there- the first day they bombed Haifa. I woke up at 9:00am to the terrible sound of my favorite city being attacked. I was terrified and felt so alone. I called my mom immediately, and she told me she's at work in one of the clinics she supervises and that they saw, through the panoramic window, huge missiles falling down town close to them. She was scared too but tried to calm me down and tell me to pack some of my stuff and go to her place as soon as things calmed down a bit outside. I tried to think where is the safest place in my apartment, coz there was no shelter for these 50 year old houses. I decided the safest spot was between the bed and the closet which were both next to inside walls. The missiles kept falling and I was almost hysterical. I called my dad who was an hour away to the south - where things were going on as usual as if their own country isn't under attack (it was like that for the rest of the war). My dad tried to relax me and really sympathized with me. I cried and turned the little TV on, to watch the news and see what they have to say. Sadly, I heard the missiles before they even knew about the ones that landed before, so the "news" weren't so new to me... Nevertheless I kept on watching, between one siren to the other. These sirens took me back to the Gulf War, then I was not even 11 years old, and went through the ordeal with my family. This time, 16 years later, I was sitting alone in my apartment, on the floor, with the fear of actually getting hurt in my own house, not knowing where it's gonna come from next. Being alone like this, even though I was already an adult, was just as scary and unbearable as being a child with the warmth and love of the family around.

A reflection of the modern China

Shanghai, 2006

A TV commercial boat on the Huangpu River.
Why not make some more money off the tourists crowding the Bund?
(One of the most touristic areas in Shanghai)

Indoor skiing in Shanghai

(sorry -no pictures - forgot the camera...)

On Saturday we went to the Indoor skiing in Shanghai. The place is really close to where we live, and we decided to give it a chance even though we read a lot of things about it- especially not too excited reviews. I thought that it's worth a try- especially coz I need the practice, since I've skied only 7 days in my life. We woke up on Saturday on a decent hour (10am) and went there. We walked in to a nice lobby, and payed a not very nice price (218RMB for an unlimited time ticket ~ 22 Euro). The price includes equipment and clothing (we brought our own clothes- I think it's better than using rented ones- but if you don't have any- it's a good compromise), we changed and went in. The boots we got were damp inside, and even though we changed them 3 times before we started- we couldn't find a pair that was totally dry. We walked in the skiing area and saw a little man-made hill, covered with artificial snow. It's not a high hill and the slope is not very steep- but for me it was enough to practice.
This place is a good example for the way Chinese ppl keep maintenance: they don't. I'll be surprised if there's such a word in Chinese at all. In the pictures outside the place it looks so nice and clean, and taken care of- but no! Inside it's a big hill of instant China. The nice screens that covered the ugliness on the "back stage" were gone. Meaning the big metal poles holding the huge hanger, and the terrible ground next to the slope (covered with wet carton boards), were all shown to our delight, while we were goin up on the very old, annoying and slow (about 300m in more than 5 minutes) lift you put between your legs to drag you up. On the way up at some points there was no snow on the trail, so my skies got stuck a few times, till I realized I better move my feet towards where there's snow... We actually asked one of the employees (inside there were far less employees than outside) to shovel some snow on the lift's trail, but the only answer we got was: "we do it only in the evening" (we're still not sure the guy totally understood what we said). How stupid is that? So for the rest of the time it was to be left alone like that. What else was wrong there? well- they had 2 lifts, but one wasn't working, and to get the escalator that takes you to the lift- you have to walk a mile in the snow. Again- maintenance!!! and how inefficient.
The amount of Chinese ppl trying to ski but falling on their behinds was unbelievable. They ski in a straight line down hill, till they fall in a very amusing way. I thought that in Israel there were a lot of ppl that didn't like to ask for help, coz they're too much of a macho. But no. Here, for totally different reasons (well maybe it is about "losing face" which is pretty much the same reason, and maybe it's just because they're stupid) it seems that they just take some boots, take some skies, put them on (usually not the right way) and go up hill. Most of them get stuck in the middle - standing there like zombies waiting for the Messiah (Rob would say they haven't noticed he already came ... ha ha - makes me laugh every time...) blocking the way for the 10 out of 500 ppl that are actually skiing down normally from up hill (2 of them were us, the rest either foreigners or some "cool" young Chinese snow-boarders that were pretty good).
I felt just like in a video game- "avoid the Chinese ppl". It was good practice- maybe next time I'll feel confident enough to ski between trees...
To sum things up- I'm glad we went, for me it was good, this way when we go skiing in February I hope I'll waste less time on the vacation trying to remember what to do, and gaining my confidence back (it takes a few hours...). I would recommend for ppl who really want to ski and are not gonna have a chance to do anywhere - to go there, but be aware of the price, and don't expect much of the place itself.

Priorities

In the 8th grade, when I was 14, I attended a week of communication workshops from school. Not everyone went- it was our choice to apply- and after the school selected the ones that will actually go- we were off to a campus in our city- for a week. We slept there and had workshops every morning, enjoying our almost freedom from the parents for about 5 days. The special thing about this week was that it mixed Jewish high schools with Arab high schools. It was a week about communications - meaning the media- TV, radio, newspaper (I was in the newspaper group) etc. But it also was, between the lines, about communication between ppl. I made some really good friends there - some from my school some from the Arab school - and kept in touch with some of them for a few years.
I especially remember the 1st activity we had- which was suppose to get us to know each other better. I've been to hundreds of these activities in my life, especially coz I was in the Scouts for about 6 years, sometimes I even gave these activities myself, and even though there was nothing special about this 1st knowing each other activity- I remember it very well till today (which is surprising coz my memory is really bad). What I most remember is this one game where you're suppose to define yourself according to the following characteristics: gender, nationality, religion and any quality or other characteristic you think you have. I've done this activity a lot of times- you're suppose to grade the characteristics according to what you believe defines you most. I think that the reason I remember this specific time that I participated in it- is because this time there were a lot more ppl in the group that were different than me in those characteristics. This time we were not all Jewish, Israeli boys and girls. I usually define myself as a Human being first and foremost, then as a woman (in those days it was "a girl") than I list some qualities of mine, then I say Israeli and then Jewish (I think Israeli was right after "a woman" when I was a teenager- that had changed over the years- even though it's still a strong characteristic of mine). It's pretty interesting to hear what other ppl say- especially if they come from different backgrounds. They're explanations why they listed it the way they did is even more interesting...
I remember that in that week- even though I always thought in that same point of view- I understood how difficult it is to live somewhere where you don't feel comfortable using that country's nationality as your own. It only hit me when I noticed that most of the Arab kids either didn't say "Israeli" at all or only as the last on their list. I immediately understood why they did that- I had no doubts about it- but before that- it had never crossed my mind.

The reason I thought about it now was coz it seems like in the next few years I'm not gonna be a permanent resident of my own country. Not gonna be at the place that gives me a part of my identity. I don't feel bad about it- I try to look at it as a good experience for me- but I couldn't help think about those kids that were born somewhere and don't feel like they can actually say they belong there. It made me sad for them, not in a pitiful kind of way though. I think the fact that "Israeli" will always come in my list before my religion - made me think that they don't have a lot of a choice if they don't wanna put their religion in one of the first places, and that made me feel like someone - or something took that choice away from them.
It's very common that ppl get closer to their religion when they're abroad- especially if they are the ones that decided to leave their country. Their kids usually don't understand why they have to keep to certain far fetched rules, and rebel.

About fear and joy and new years

Last year, on New Year's Eve, I was on a mountain in Czech Republic with Rob and about 15 of his good friends from all over the world (well- mostly Europe- but other places too...). I arrived to Germany the day after x-mas to be with him for about a week. 2 or 3 days later we drove to Czech Republic and there he taught me how to ski. It was the first time that I ever skied in my life (not counting the time I was 5 in the states- freezing in the kids group, where mom and dad left me to "learn" too...). I'm known as a not very sporty person, and only in the last 6 years or so I do sports on an almost regular basis (gym and Yoga) and that's especially coz of the mental change in me. This mental change was probably the grounds for falling in love with skiing- something I'm sure I wouldn't have liked 10 years ago. I must admit- I'm a bit of a coward when it comes to heights and mountains- and my ability to ski down a hill full of trees- but I proved that I can do it- and even enjoy it (providing some good weather of course- try skiing in Mount Hermon in Israel- there's either bad weather and snow or good weather and no snow - which means you either ski and hate it or not ski and hate it). I'm sure that if Rob had written here he would say that skiing with me can be a really hard job- coz it involves a lot of my complaining (well- if you knew him you'd know that he'll never say that to anyone- but I know that I've complained a hand full to him at least the first few times we skied together).
There's something in me that never lets me rest till I feel like I'm good enough. Good enough doesn't mean "the best" it just means that till I'm rather complete with how I'm doin something - I wont feel comfortable to do it next to ppl who are good. That's why in the beginning when Rob taught me how to ski - I felt so insecure. First of all- he skies since he's about 2-3 years old, and all of his family skies. His mom grew up between the Austrian Alps, and his parents met skiing, which says it all (what can I say I grew in to? my parents met in the Israeli army... LOL) anyway- to make things short- I felt like I know nothing about something he's an expert in- and that made me really scared that I will just not be good enough. Rob was the knight in shining armor he really is- and was the perfect teacher and gentleman. I even asked him at a certain point on the top of the mountain (while having the most sour face a person can have- from being so scared going down) how is it possible that he tolerates me at all- and that he deserves a medal. I only remember one time he frowned - for about 5 minutes of the whole 3 days. In March we were skiing in Austria in the best weather ever- and I was a bit more experienced- which made the whole thing so much better- and so great.
I remember what my mom said when I told her that I'm going skiing in the Hermon for the first time (I wanted to practice what Rob had taught me). I had to get up at 5am to get there at 8am so I have as much time as possible to ski. I told her how cold it is- and how hard it is for me- and the only thing she said was: "so why do you do that to yourself?" There at that point exactly I realized where my laziness comes from- it comes from the fear to harm myself in anyway - the fear to not enjoy and the fear to suffer even just a little bit. What, I guess, I wasn't told for most of my life was that suffering a bit can bring to a big joy (as long as I don't do it to harm myself or of course- anyone else) and pointless fear is something that stops you from living - not something that keeps you alive. It's amazing how one little thing like skiing can make you understand all that- and give you a big feeling of accomplishment and joy.
We're planning on going skiing in China in February in the Chinese Spring Festival. I hope all is gonna go well (still waiting for the reply from the travel agent) and that I wont freeze to death there (it's gonna be about minus 20°c) - but I got lots of presents from Rob that he brought me from Germany- that are suppose to keep me warm even in this kinda weather.

***

This New Year's Eve we spent in Hangzhou. I liked it so much the first time I went there that I asked him if he wants to go first thing after he lands. He said it's no problem and we went. We spent the evening with the new friends I made last time I was there - and it was a really nice night. Hangzhou is relatively colder than SH (I guess coz it's more humid) and we did spend a lot of time in doors - but we really enjoyed our little vacation - and for me it was a refreshment from life.

I wonder where I'll be next year on the same day... I like spending it every time in a different country!!!