The ability to LIVE

Guess what?

I got the job!!! They're still working on the contract, so I'll only see it next week, but they offered me the job- which is the whole point!

Today I was also given a new visa, for almost a year, and was also told that if I find a job- I can change my visa to a working visa- and work as much as I want!!!

This is so great, it's just such a relief! and it just gives me the ability to actually live here, like any other normal person.

So I'll see how it goes with the new job and the German course that starts in 10 days, and after the first course I might change the second one with a less intensive course- and work more. We'll see.

So happy!!!

Oh and I went shopping this week- for some clothes (to wear at work of course) and I spent a nice amount of money on really great basic stuff, and on my dream boots (from this website), which cost me a lot- but they are just perfect!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Why am I so sad?

I have the answers to this question.

Not getting in to the program I wanted puts me in a very hard place.
First of all, I have to re-think about what I want to do with my life.
I thought that this program is what I wanted to do.
I thought that this program will make me what I want to become.
I thought that this is what I am interested in.
I thought that this is what is good for me.
I thought that this is what I'm going to be good at.
I thought that this is what I'm going to be.
I thought that this is what I am.

On top of that now, I have to figure out how I'm going to be able to stay here in Germany.
Without studying I'm not going to have a visa.
According to the law I am allowed to learn German one more year, and stay here with that visa.
The problem is that I did already almost all the German levels offered and I only have one more left to do. After that who knows what I'll do.

I hate being hung in the air like that. High and dry.

Don't know who I am anymore.
What I wanna do.
How I'm going to stay in the place I call home?

Got it!

Yesterday I got my students visa!!! 2 stickers on 2 whole pages in my passport (great, now I need a new one...) I'm legal here!!! (not that I wasn't before but it's nice to say...).
I also got a SIM card, and now I have my own phone number... Nice to be normal.

***

On Wednesday Rob's sister came here for a visit with an American friend of hers. They're travelling around Germany together, both before going to uni. We travelled around Dresden with them the same afternoon they came (the weather was so nice) and the next day, Rob stayed home and studied while us three went to the Bastei- old ruins of a fort, from the middle ages, in Swiss Saxony- half an hour train ride from here. It was a beautiful day, and except for choosing the wrong shoes (why do I always do that???) and hurting my feet badly on the way down hill, it was really nice. The pictures wouldn't upload now for some reason- so I'll put them here some other time- promise...

***

I'm starting my German course on Monday- hope it'll be good... Hope I will be good...

***

Today was really warm, and now all of a sudden it started getting really windy, and rainy, and the worst thing is the thunders and lightnings... scary...

Home sweet (new) Home

That's it! We're done bringing everything to our apartment, it took us a week until everything was in place- but now it is. Finally I have a home- a place I live in, and there's no more need to open a messy suitcase in order to look for a shirt. My things are in a closet!!! Our place looks so nice now, and so pleasant to be in... Next Wednesday the internet ppl are coming to connect us, sadly it's 2 days before we leave to Rob's parents's for my last weekend here... My flight to Israel is getting closer and closer...
We went to the foreigner office where Rob's parents live, to ask what kind of visa can I apply for, unfortunately there's no such thing as a girlfriend/partner visa, so the only chance will be to get a students visa. There's a few ways to do that, and as soon as we know more I'll write it here. Now we have to search for German language schools around here, and go there and ask questions, and go to the foreigner office here as well to see if the regulations are any different. I hope it'll be alright... I'm not allowed to work here as long as I learn the language (coz they say I'm suppose to study and not work) and that's a bit of a bummer... We'll see how we get along next year...
So, this weekend we decided to finally enjoy our home, for the first time (we've been at Rob's parents' house every weekend since we came back from China) and then I'll only have another week till I go back to Israel...
Have a great weekend everyone!

Time flies...

We're leaving China in less than a month. I can't say I'm sad about it. Especially in the last few days - in which we met the Chinese bureaucracy again. To make things short- Rob needs a new visa, and we need a registration form for him, which is hard to get coz without knowing we "broke" the law- he didn't register again after coming back from Germany (in China you need to register as a resident - and let them know exactly where you are all the time). This means that he needs to pay a fine and show our contract to the apartment. Problem is that the contract ended yesterday, and we're staying here with the landlords permission. No prob you say? just get the landlords to get us a new contract or something? true. But we couldn't reach them in the last 2 days. Well we got them today, but this story isn't over yet... Not very interesting I know- but my point is that I'm really getting sick of this place, and now- as the cherry on top-blogspot is blocked again in China. At least that's what I understand- coz I can't go into any of the blogspot blogs. If I had to say how I feel about it today it would be a mixture of frustration and anger. I thought about the question whether I'll ever want to live here for more than a short period of time, meaning- more than a year, and I must say that now the answer will be "no". There's tons of good things about living in China, if its the cheap prices, or the interesting challenges you meet everyday, the great food (just pay attention to what you're eating - to not be surprised...), and even the occasional nice Chinese person you meet outside (and I admit- most of them are nice ppl) all of the above do not make me feel it's worth all the rest. I'm tired of being stared at, tired of dealing with the system all the time, and that's even though I'm not naive: I know that bureaucracy is the same shit anywhere on this planet. Here it has another dimension to it: The big brother knows all. I can not deal with that. I'm such a person of live and let live - and I just can't live in a place where someone above decides for me what websites I'm allowed to see. I can't wait to be back in Europe, and later Israel- to read in Wikipedia (I miss you my love!) or just click my favorite blogs list- and not get a page that sais "Action Cancelled"...
I still want to travel a bit, when you travel you usually don't see these little problems, or they just don't annoy you as much, but I am ready to leave.

Roger Waters in Shanghai and then some

Roger Waters on stage. Once in a life time experience

Wow... We were at the Roger Waters concert last night. What a show!
Here's a short review about it from the Shanghaiist website. This review kinda sums up what I think about the show. It was definitely great to hear these songs on stage, and the production was really good- the sound and the effects both. It was refreshing to see such a political (and not censured!!!) show here in China, and was both moving and surprising to see the Israeli - Palestinian wall there on screen...

Israeli - Palestinian wall on screen,
I hope the message will be heard.

It took 3 hours, including an intermission, and it was worth every penny I spent on it.



It took me years back to the time I used to listen to Pink Floyd 24/7... and it gave me the shivers... When I'll figure out how to put a short movie here- I'll do so...

This morning I went to pick up my passport- and I got the visa!!! I'm allowed to stay here until May 15th now!!! Hurray!!! Then I went shopping, and bought lots of stuff for our skiing trip on Thursday - I hope that now, with all that I bought- I wont be too cold.... I feel like I spend a lot of money on shopping, but I keep reminding myself that here it's really cheap and at home, and in Europe I wont be able to find a nice woolen long coat for 18€...

And here's one more picture from the concert- something that will make you laugh:

On the behind of this pig was written:
Impeach Bush now!!!

Visa problems...

I've been trying to extend my visa for the last week now. It expires in 8 days, the same day as our flight up north to Harbin. The first time I went there I was sure they'll be able to give me a tourist visa for the rest of my stay (until my flight back in the end of April), but the guy there told me that after a study visa I can only get one month tourist and then I'll have to leave the country. I was annoyed and asked if I can get a business visa - coz I "work" for my fathers company. He told me to go to booth number 12 - where their chief officer sits. So I did, and this guy tells me that I need these and these documents for that and so on. He wasn't very nice I must say. I called my dad and he asked one of the ppl he works with (which I know coz 2 years ago I worked with him too) to help me. This guy works for a company that is not located in Shanghai, and I need documents of companies from Shanghai only. So he asked a friend of his to help me. This guy is a journalist and knows another guy here that has a little trading company. Story goes on and on - in the end after a hell of a day (seriously one of my worst days I had here ever) wondering around the whole city by taxis and subway, going to the visa office twice (and it's really not close to anything- it's in the other side of town) going everywhere to get certain documents, after waiting in line for about 2 hours, in the end the chief there looks at me at tells me that this company is not good. "How do you know them?" he asks. I tell him that our company knows this one through a company in Wenzhou (where the other company is located) and that we do some business with them too. He looks at the documents and says that this company has bad reputation (I'm not sure he even knew what he meant by that) and that I can apply for the visa with this company but there's a good chance I'll get refused and asked to come for an investigation to see what relationship we have with this company. I told him that it's just a small company we work with here, and coz they said they needed one from Shanghai this is the only one we have. I added that we have big business with other companies in China- but not in this area. He scared me saying that if I get refused with this company I'll have to leave China in 10 days. Tears were threatening to burst out of my eyes, while he was asking "so... what do you decide to do?" I took my things and told him I'll find another company, and felt so lost and humiliated - running back and forth to that place with a different document every time- being told- this is not good enough!
I called my dad begging him to check if he really doesn't have contacts in Shanghai itself. He called the guy working for him in Beijing, who reminded him kindly that they do have business with a really big company in Shanghai- a company I was even in touch with 2 years ago... My dad told me that and I went home, waiting to get the new documents- this time of a reputable company...
Tomorrow I'm meeting a guy from this company, in the visa office. I hope it'll work this time... I'm exhausted from all this crap. The thing is that if I'll have to get the tourist visa for only one month I'll have to go to Hong Kong to get a new one (coz it's considered out of China) which is gonna cost me a lot of money I don't have...
I really hope that this time it'll work, and that yesterday's experience wont influence my luck in that office- coz I have to go to that chief again - maybe he wont be so nice...

cross your fingers again pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

and i'll just put this one thing for luck
(it's a chinese character, means: "luck", being read: "Fu") 福

The sun is shining!

Except for my Chinese visa problems - which I'm planning on trying to solve tomorrow, these are beautiful days. The sun is shining for the last week now, with changing temperatures, but mostly around 15°c. Now for example its 19°c.
We took advantage of this nice weather on Saturday- and walked all over town for a few hours. We finally found a nice summer jacket for Rob and then we went to a very special coffee place called "the reading room". After that we walked all the way from the french concession to people's square, looking for a sports store to buy goggles for me, for our skiing trip in 10 days. The only kind we found were really good but too big for me and very expensive... So we're hoping we'll be able to buy it up north...
My visa issues kinda make me stressed coz they said that after a students visa I can't get more than one month as a tourist, so I needed to ask my dad for his help- to ask the ppl he's working with here to help me get a business visa. Tomorrow I'm meeting a friend of theirs and we're gonna go to the Police Bureau together- with some documents. Cross your fingers for me- I hope I get the visa until my flight back...

I feel a bit empty now with no school- even though I keep busy with the visa issue, skiing trip etc. I hope to find something to do in March- like teaching someone English, preferably privately, or signing up for a short term Chinese course (only if it's not too expensive). If all of this wont happen I'll make myself a routine of studying Chinese at home and planing our Tibet trip for April.

Exhausted...

What a week! Woke up at 6:00AM everyday - it's so hard to get used to that... Took the metro for an hour every day to school (I change the lines twice every morning coz this way I usually have a seat on it- the line leaving from here is already full when I get on it- even though its only the 3rd stop!) Chinese ppl i tell ya... They love being crowded... They will just stand waiting for the train wherever they got to the platform from the stairs. They never walk on the platform towards the beginning of the train- and this way the first cars are usually a bit emptier. How stupid of them. School itself is actually really nice, I've made friends with a Spanish girl already, and the rest of the ppl in class are really nice. We're actually from all over the world: France, Switzerland, Indonesia, Russia, Spain, Colombia, Burundi, Canada, Sweden (originally from Iran and Hong Kong), Saudi Arabia... Really all over the world... I understand most of what they say in Chinese in class- maybe even more than the rest of the students - vocabulary wise, but the characters... I hate them!!! Why do I have to learn how to write the stupid things????? Wouldn't mind recognizing some but... Hate writing them. Really.

was a really busy week. There wasn't even one day that I came straight home from school. On Monday I decided to be the good housewife and cook a nice dinner for the both of us- celebrating the first day of school and first day at work. On Tuesday went to take Rob's passport from the visa place and then went to the market to buy some clothes. It was amazing: as soon as I stepped in the building I immediately remembered all the words I need to know in Chinese in order to buy in the market. All the colors names in Chinese came back to me, and all the other words that are very helpful when shopping... The market was crowded as usual, lots of ppl, lots of really ugly clothes- I really had to dig in to find something nice, the smells, the noise... But its still a nice experience...
on Thursday I went to the visa place again- this time for me- to get me the students visa (got all the papers from uni for that) and then went to a deli in a really fancy hotel with Lia the Spanish girl, to buy some nice (and very expensive) cheese...

yesterday was Rob's birthday. So on Wednesday I got him an i-pod as a present, and yesterday I prepared a little celebration for him when he got home from work: I made a pile of blueberry pancakes (don't have an oven- couldn't bake) and I decorated them with gummies and ice cream. I hung balloons in the house, lit up two candles (couldn't find birthday candles here) and put the present on the bed. It was really nice... We went for a foot massage in the evening and then went to a hot pot restaurant (its a restaurant where you sit next to a table that has a hole in it- to put a big pot in the middle - on fire. There's soup in the pot and you order all kinds of raw food like meet and vegetables to put in the soup and fish it out- so you can eat the soup or just the cooked food).

I'm really enjoying my first real weekend in a long time. I haven't been working in a while- so this week it was hard to get used to waking up everyday and having something to do. Its fun being a student again though. Kinda weird after more than 2 years that I wasn't a student.

today we're planning on going to eat dumplings in a restaurant I got a recommendation to. And tonight I'd really love to go out... Haven't gone out in Shanghai since I got here- and I really miss going out here... This city actually has a lot to offer...