a Journey

today's the 31st of January. a month of 2007 has past bringing with it the fact that i've spent about 3 weeks in Shanghai alone and away from all friends and family. i always said i wanted my space. that i needed a time out from the usual so that i could clear my mind. well, Shanghai was the best place to come to ain't? :)
being here, alone, truly away from the far-reaching pampering hands of home and friends and sweet car-rides to and fro my destinations... it made me realise just how loved i was. and continue to be. the well wishes, the concern.... the toasts to me during zouking and pub-crawling. thank you dearies.

being in Shanghai is fantastic. simply because i've to learn to be independent. work is something which is real, not a concept. public transport is a mode of transport, not an option. phone calls from home are not a maybe, but a warm tingling feeling and a chance to relate my escapades and whine. so yes, for all the times it i refused to admit it: i am a pamepered singapore princess losing the fluffings in shanghai.

this is a little girl in big big shanghai signing out.

It hasn't been a week, and already I feel settled into the city. Maybe cities are easeir to settle in, beacuse they're familiar in the sense that they're mostly skyscrapers with relatively efficient and comprehensible subway lines, public buses and the ever faithful taxis. It makes adapting easier. Except of that here, everything's in Mandarin (guo yu) even the building names, and their streets. I suddenly realise that communicating in Mandarin even for a day can be draining. Here, coffee doesn't have much effect anymore. I need kopi from the kopitiam. :) Hot off the press on what I've done thus far:
1) Witnessed a fight on Nanxing Xi Lu where the SOLE girl made a group (about 8 or so) back off cos she was shielding her bf and using her bag to wallop the assaulters. She rawks.
2) Bought a Mao badge and Mao alarm clock from the Mao era! ;)
3) Gone to the Bund and Xin Tian Di
4) Shop, shop, shop
5) Scolded a local for cutting my queue in English, and having her back off. Meow.
So I'm sitting in an Internet cafe since I've no connection at home, and my lappie is failing me! :( Tell me which story you want the details on, and I'll write to y'all.

Love! :)

Tomorrow night, 2230@ t2. Excited, nervous... but glad for the respite.