Ryu2.mind

Here in Shanghai... in the city that never sleeps, I'm not sleeping right now either, for it's been my first real time for me to recollect all my thoughts.

It’s rather cold here – averaging freezing or slightly below. It’s been raining a lot, and it even snows very lightly at times, so I haven’t felt motivated to go out much. Heck – I haven’t even been in the mood to take photos since arriving here, if any of you can believe that! =) More importantly though, the bleakness of the sky has been rubbing off a bit on me; I think it’s been making me a bit tired physically and spiritually as well, for oftentimes when I get home, I just want to take a nice long warm shower and go straight into a (relatively) warm bed. So, good health and renewed zeal is something I need...

Thankfully, getting around is easy enough as the subway system here is rather nicely developed – not as modern or extensive as that of say, Tokyo or Seoul, but certainly nicer than that of Beijing.

Another thing I’m thankful for is that I’ve found a place already – sort of small, but very new, close to the city center and the subway. I’ll probably be moving in the beginning of March, if not sooner. If any of you are visiting and need free accommodation… hint, hint ;)

So what have I been up to during my first week here? The 13-hour flight itself from SFO was nothing to write home about – being the United mileage junkie that I am, I chose to fly them yet again, and it was the same old transpacific economy class service, after a delay of about 30 minutes to fix something-or-another with the number 3 engine during pushback. Not terrible, but not Singapore or Cathay either.

The first two days I pretty much just slept to recover from jetlag, and sort of explored a bit around the vicinity. Friday dinner, I met up with my college friend Conlan, and two of his friends, another ABC and a Scotsman, gorged ourselves on sushi and other Japanese food (there are tons of Japanese expats in Shanghai, meaning lots of authentic, albeit super-expensive choices for my favorite ethnic cuisine), and went to a clu^H^H^Hmodern cultural venue afterward. ;) No, I’m not planning to make this a way of life. Saturday was mostly spent sleeping in, running errands and shopping for groceries.

On Sunday, I was planning on meeting up with some friends at SMIC out in Pudong and going to an official Three-Self church that they went to, but we found out at the last minute that there wasn’t service because of the New Year, so we just had lunch instead. Unfortunately, I had already scheduled the afternoon to go house hunting, so I wasn’t able to attend the international church service in lieu of it. Well, I guess I’ll listen to Pastor Dave’s latest GrX sermon whenever it gets posted…

Nothing earth-shattering yet... were you all thinking I'd be engaged by now or something? =)

First things first.

And thus ends my first week here.