Hello I’m Alive!

oh gosh, before i say anything else…condolence to the family of Michael Jackson. I still feel sad over his death…he’s a legend, whatever they say, no one could replace Michael Jackson. 

well, moving on, i just got back from my trip to Hangzhou with my family. it was such a relief for me managing to get on the train. another relief getting on the hotel and having  no problems whatsoever with the booking. getting around wasn’t as hard as i thought it would be…although my family’s a bit uneasy when we can’t translate things or something. i could see the fear in their faces…it should’ve been funny at that point lol. 

i’ll try to upload some pics soon, but apparently getting back to shanghai means getting back to my tasks as well, and that includes blogging. if you read my other blogs, don’t worry i’m on it. 

well, anyway hangzhou was really cool, it got me really relaxed but coz the temperature there is a bit cooler compared to shanghai, i got myself some colds. the pharmacist gave me this yucky medicine for coughs, and it tasted really awful like a dead plant or something but it works. my throat cleared up in a matter of minutes and i felt better. the only thing i hated, i abused the temporary relief and talked non-stop to my family and friends lol. now i’m left with zero voice hahaha. so all i could do now is blog. im supposed to drink again that medicine as it’s supposed to be  for 3x a day…but really i dont want to get any nightmares haha. 

im so tired. id go to sleep now i guess.

i missed shanghai a lot…do you know how spoiled foreigners get when they’re in shanghai? ask any teenagers, they speak english, at most, some of the people in the streets translates things in english. even the  restaurants here now have pictures and english names in their menu. heck, today at the pharmacy, the teller taught me how to say, plastic bag in chinese: 

dai-tze (or at least it sounded like that)

and in qi pu lu last monday when i asked for a plastic bag, which i pointed out using my dictionary the guy told me, 

b-a-g 

hahah it’s funny when they spell out words instead of actually saying them. i mean, what if one day we spell out chinese characters could u imagine? ok gotta sleep now. don’t want to completely lose my voice by tomorrow. see you around! ciao! 

My Dad’s Bday

hmmm…what did i do today? well, i was able to buy us some tickets for hangzhou, with the help of my friend. gosh it’s so hard without a translator you know? 

then i’ve also booked our hotel, i just hope everything goes smoothly when we get there. 

today’s my dad’s bday. i bought him a cake and i gave him a hat from muji. he likes hats and he has a collection of them, so i thought i’d give him something from muji coz we dont have them back home. for dinner we went to this belly-dancing kind of restaurant. we got lost almost twice. coz the damn area, doesn’t have a proper signage. but eventually we found it. 

it’s at #4 hengshan road. if you see a white strip of restaurants, including starbucks, that’s it. just find the main entrance and go to 2nd floor. i’ll try to upload pictures soon. i’ve still got a number of work to finish right now. having my family over is not easy to concentrate, not that i mind the  distraction lol. im eating plenty of dried mangoes today, my bf sent me tons of them hahaha. 

oh well, that’s all i could update you with for now. ciao!

If I Don’t Post It Means I’m Living My Life Offline…

well just some quick updates

- friday picked up my family from the airport

- saturday walked around cheng huang temple and yuyuan gardens in shanghai, by the way to say cheng huang temple we should say: 

cheng huang miao

- saturday night had dinner at russian restaurant with my shanghai friends and cherry’s mom. wasn’t it cool? 

 there, i’m quite busy this week, what with my family here. it’s funny how small my apartment gets when it’s cramped with suitcases and all my family’s stuff. heck, i couldn’t even find my nail cutter lol. it’s also quite a challenge being a tour guide when my spoken chinese is just basic. oh well, i’m hella studying chinese when they go home. 

i still have unaswered emails, posts to schedule. and don’t get me talking about work…argh! well, the good news is, i’m not bored anymore haha. 

oh and i gotta tell you my bf is the sweetest bf ever. he gave me “pasalubong” thru my mom. 

 - all my tops we have sewn in our shop (we sell clothes in Manila)

- more than 10 packages of dried mango, coconut mango, otap (from cebu), and the caramelized nuts we buy in baguio, i forgot what it’s called. it was pretty sweet right. i miss him a lot. 

oh well, then my parents got me

- about 10 pieces of new clothes, haha actually i asked them to buy it for me and i’d pay them as soon as they get the bill, so it was quite a lot. seriously, don’t snort on kamiseta or bayo just because they’re preppy and boring, when you need stuff for work abroad, it’s almost better than zara and h&m esp. if everyone else buys from them. it’s nice to be different and people wondering where on earth you got your clothes. lol. 

- kris aquino magazine ( i love kris aquino, she’s the one who influenced me to read books by joel osteen and joyce meyer, they’re christian pastors who literally changed my outlook in life, i  even tell my bf about their preaches and he’s interested with them as well)

- also i tried watching prisonbreak coz she mentioned she and james love it. im glad i did, it’s one of my favorite shows now. 

too bad they weren’t able to get me preview, i miss that magazine, even though it’s loaded with expensive stuff and they only call you fashionista if you  own at least one louis vuitton or hand me downs from your rich mom. lol. it’s still a nice magazine. 

happy father’s day to all the dads out there…esp. filipino dads! yey! 

we’re goint to the mall, my dad’s excited coz he likes the mall a lot like me. see you ciao! 

Count Your Blessings in Shanghai

haha i read from problogger that we  shouldn’t apologize for not writing on our blogs…blah blah. but for me, blogging is like talking to a friend, of course when you haven’t seen your friend inawhile you apologize right?

anyway, i haven’t blogged in awhile coz i’ve been really busy with work, trying to beat the deadline coz my parents are coming over tonight! yey! i’m so excited. i haven’t seen them since last christmas. oh and the thing is, i forgot how to have a bit of authority over me haha, like the other day my mom was asking me about blankets and bedsheets lol. my mom always treats me like i’m a seven year old.

well, anyway, i hope it doesn’t rain that much coz i want to go somewhere outside shanghai too, even just for the weekends. but the weather report says it’ll be raining. hmmm. 

oh about my blog’s title. i only said that coz a lot of people have been complaining about this and that in shanghai, but everyday i hear stories about people losing their jobs. people doing everything they can to keep their jobs. if you’re here in shanghai, working, well consider yourself lucky and a lot of people would gladly take your place in any first sign of weakness. so keep your head up high, give thanks for you are blessed and stop whining! 

ok just some thoughts i have lately, now i have to figure out our week’s meals lol. 

Crazy Neighbors

i think my neighbors forgot their keys that’s why they’re trying to break the door. it’s just funny and i just want to go to sleep. i hope her husband wakes up already. lol. 

so anyway, during june,shanghai is both hot and humid. most of my clothes from manila, are wearable now in an unforced way. i was quite happy!  

 i’ve been here for 9 months already gosh i wish i knew more chinese words now. i feel like i’d be able to master any language easily if i learned chinese haha. 

we have a sort of break pretty soon and i’m so looking forward to it. i just like the idea that we get some sort of balance here not just all work. it’s weird when people think china’s some kind of big factory. well, i guess it depends on the job right? 

oh well, that’s all for now. my hobby lately is watching korean tv shows i’ve seen in the Philippines but didn’t actually have the time to watch. I’m watching “My Girl” now…it just cracks me up. oh which reminds me, i really got to clean up my place soon. 

but i’m always tired and sleepy after work. hopefully i get to do it tomorrow. oh well, bye for now! ciao! 

Knock Knock

sometimes people here have strong amnesia, and they just knock on whoever’s door. like sunday morning isn’t it too early to deliver anything much? also i accept cash lol…no need to send me gifts.

i am so annoyed when people just bang on your door as if they’ll break it down…they don’t even bother to think if they’ve got the right apartment. the apartments here in shanghai all look the same, esp. in the same compound…so you get mistaken for someone else often. esp…if you’re foreigner. they always know where the foreigner lives so i guess if you’re quite popular whoever looks for a “lawaii” they’d immediately lead them to your place.

and they keep shouting so loudly as if i’d understand them…i would like to write this on my door next time:

TIM BU DONG - GO AWAY!!!

(i don’t understand) - go away!

then i also thought of leaving my chinese friend’s phone number in case they really want to tell me something lol.

that’s why i don’t want to read any news from back home…

well why?

* imelda marcos thinks she’s poor

* there are 92 cases already of h1n1 in the philippines

* and lastly ruby rose’s body was discovered in a steel case, poured with cement.

the last one really crushed my heart! to kill someone is already unforgivable. but to place you inside a container and pour cement omg! how could anyone possibly do that? why do people like this exists? i think life is given by god, and the only one who could take this life is god himself.

i am pretty sure this person cannot sleep well at night. sigh!

god bless the poor family. it’s just so depressing to hear about these. that’s why i told myself i don’t want to hear the news from back home. it just makes me sad.

Philippine Food Festival in Shanghai

in lieu of our Independence Day on June 12, there’d be a Philippine Food Festival in Shanghai. I  think this is a great idea, a lot of people have asked me about our food and all i could do is show a little bit of what i know haha (im not really a good representative in cooking sorry).

ok, in case you’re hungry already, here’s the venue of the festival.

The Eton Hotel

535 Pudong Avenue, Pudong

New Area, Shanghai 200120 China

Tel: +8621 387899888 ext 6630

email: eton@theetonhotel.com

image: www.filipinasoul.com

On Schedule and Plans

i miss my old organized-nerdy self! i remember i even spent hours on our dining table, making notes and calculating like crazy. i used to be really up to date with my wishlists, my plans etc. well, i try doing that here but i guess i forgot sometimes.

well, im trying to do tha again. really hope i could, it’ll make everything so much better. i’ve always believed it’s not how hard you work but how efficient and effective you are.

actually this is just a good excuse to buy notebooks and cute folders. ill take pictures of them one of these days. i love that shanghai has all these cute things and it’s really cheap.

my family’s coming over soon. that’ll really be cool. i miss them a lot! also, my mom’s bringing me clothes and my fave magazines! yey! i know i’m so easy to please lol.

speaking of which i better organize their stay here so we don’t waste  any time right?

today when i paid my rent to my landlord, he smiled a bit when i spoke to him in my “kindeargarden chinese”

hey, don’t laugh? i even asked him if he had dinner already, not that i have anything to offer him anyway? lol.

by the way, i discovered another proxy server for shanghai. it’s a bit faster than the other one i’m using. i could even watch youtube thru it. if you wanna try it just google proxy box. don’t want it to get deleted sorry.

oh well, that’s all for now. can’t wait for vacation really soon.

ps there’s a really cool dita von.. tee at h&m. really badly want to buy it but i promised myself i won’t be spending till my family gets here. argh. better check out the no-buy forums pretty soon. or shopaholics anonymous haha.

My Tripod

i went to xiujiahui today (exit 10 line 1 xiujiahui station — in case you’re asking) and bought a tripod for my camera. while i’m okay with taking my own pictures, when it comes to taking for eyeshadows i’ve gotta keep my hands steady and keep my eyes fairly shut as well. two things at the same time is difficult for me so i really need a  tripod.

my budget is 100 rmb for a small one. however, i got it for 50 rmb. yey!

so i’d be posting more pics for my makeup blog soon —- http://www.lovebeautyfashion.com

it’s so hot today, and still so many renovations going on, i had to take a detour going to work. my fall from yesterday is yielding results now and my feet kinda hurt a little bit. but still i managed to buy my groceries, get my tripod and go malling today. some feet huh?

tomorrow’s gonna be my only free day…im not sure yet what i’m gonna do. i feel sleepy now, i want to sleep early coz the construction site nearby always wakes me up before 8am.

see yah peeps!

It’s Raining ICE in Shanghai

well today is really odd. i went home to change from my heels to my sanuk tiger print flats. i just washed  them over the weekend and when it started to rain, oh no!

right before going out the taxi, my friend told me it’s raining ice, not raindrops, and true enough it’s like pebbles were being thrown on us. i was a bit scared as i didn’t know what to expect with this. as if it wasn’t enough, the whole place was muddy because the compound was being renovated.

i managed to get to my piano teacher’s  house drenching wet. she was nice enough to lend me a t-shirt. luckily i was wearing shorts underneath. this is one of those reasons why you’ve gotta have nice underwear. or else it’ll be horrible to change clothes in front of other people lol.

finally the rain stopped on our way out, but when i was back, i slipped in the lobby. geesh and everyone was there. it was quite embarassing, and my umbrella snapped. i just want to stay on the floor in humiliation.

actually, my feet kinda hurt up to now. argh…next week, i’m gonna wear boots! haha. you can never trust the weather here. i hated myself for not checking yahoo weather on my iPhone this week. i’m usually updated.

the only thing i liked about rain, i get to wear all those jackets i bought during sale. yeah!

Tweeting When Twitter is Blocked in China

before im not really into tweeting, i love plurking more…till they blocked it. that’s when i finally decided to move to twitter then they blocked it again. hopefully after june 4, they’d put it back to normal. they’re just too conscious about something that happened in 1989 and they don’t want any media discussions about it. i think all countries have a past, and no one needs to be ashamed of it or anything.

 anyway, it was funny coz yesterday i thought i could no longer tweet at all. then i realized i set other accounts “before” so i could tweet in other ways. i don'’t know if these would be activated now if you try to sign up for it. coz i know you have to validate this thru your twitter as well. twitter will not let you access twitter via third-party applications without their consent.

so anyway, here’s what i did:

1. add twitter to your google chat

so when i opened my fring app in my iphone, there’s the twitter thing and when i send it a message, it appears on my google

 2. Twitpix or twitxr

you know those other twitter applications that allows you to post pictures and post them to your twitter as well? well, i got one of them on my iPhone too. so i posted a tweet thru that as well.

 3. Proxy server

luckily those proxy servers worked and i could still view my twitter thru that and even post. so i guess it’s not so bad, it’s just annoying having to go around other websites just to tweet.. coz after all. it’’s just a tweet anyway.

Watch New Moon Trailer (If YouTube is Blocked)

if you’re in china like me, then probably YouTube is blocked as well, so luckily they have youku here. Check it out. I can’t wait for the movie!!!