The last few weeks

Day 112 - 139

It has been 27 days since I wrote my last story. Time in Shanghai goes so fast. Somehow it feels like I arrived yesterday, and like I've been here for a year or so at the same time.

I'm starting to get a routine by now. On tuesdays, wednesdays and thursdays I work from 1.30pm to 8.30pm. Monday and friday are my precious days off. On those mornings I try to wake up around 9, do some meditation, go for a 5km-run and climb the 400 stairs to my home. By then I feel ready for a day at work, or to enjoy my free day. Turns out I love my job, and the children in my classes <3 Saturdays and sundays are from 8.30am to 6pm. Which is kind of hard because there are so many parties in the weekends. My first hangovers at work already hit me.

I've been doing a lot of fun things: having dinners and drinks with all kinds of people. Christmas markets, shopping (after my first salary, wooeeeeh!! :D), visited many coffee places and hidden bars. Everything feels so special and good. I went to the cinema, more christmas markets and parties. I went to the IKEA, which feels just like home, except for all the Chinese people. I'm actually there for the 2nd time now, having a coffee. While I'm writing this a Chinese man is 'secretly' sketching me. I'm getting used to these things and I mostly don't really mind, although sometimes the 'secretly' taking pictures of me makes me angry. The accidental flash mostly gives it away, and my opinion is that it's just polite to ask for a picture if you want one. I would do the same.

I also started to learn some Chinese, but the progress is still very slow..

I keep meeting so many nice people here in Shanghai. I made some good friends with whom I have a lot of fun going out. And there are tons of handsome guys. So everybody who's looking for a man should definitely move to Shanghai. Sometimes it feels like we're stuck in an episode of Sex and the City ;)

Also important: I moved in to my new home. It's a small room in an apartment with 3 flatmates. On the 25th floor, in the middle of Shanghai. I love it!
I still can't grasp the feeling that I live here now. My work is here, my house is here, my life is here. My boxes with stuff at my mom's place are gone too. I must say it feels strange and sort of definite. But not necessarily in a bad way.

By now I realize that you can just buy a one-way ticket to anywhere in the world, take your backpack, and go. Even if you don't know any people, you don't know the language, and you don't know the culture, you can 'just like that' find some job and build a whole life. That's amazing and it gives me goosebumps.

Something about this whole adventure makes me think a lot about my past. I don't know if it's the city, the new experiences, maybe the fact that I'm away from home, or a combination of all. But I spend a lot of time thinking about my life before Shanghai. About my childhood, about all that happened in my life, about all the people I met along the way. It feels like the perfect moment for contemplation and to get to know myself better. That's why, besides spending my time working and partying, I spend a lot of time by myself too. Which is not always easy, but for sure makes everything clearer, and makes me stronger eventually.