I am back in shanghai....and man is it hot!!!!! it hasn't really gone below 90 deg F/32 deg C....and we have had tons of humidity....and no typhoons in this part of china....china itself has been hit with 12 this summer....but none here....which means this heat wave could last a long time....the chinese in shanghai say we have to have three typhoons before the heat and humidity break....i hope that is not true this year.....
so i am back for my third and final year....i am teaching 7th & 8th grade this year with a teaching partner, who is a very nice guy....and i have a whole new department to share science with....which seems to be going well....my schedule is not an easy one and i am not very excited by that aspect of the year...but everything else seems to be going swimmingly....which is a great sign....
my job search has already begun....i have my portfolio on-line with a head hunting company for international teachers and have even created a website that showcases me...feel free to check it out if you wish....danidipietro.weebly.com....i am searching for a teaching job in africa this time around....and have quite a few schools on the list....so if you know people working/living/teaching there, please get in touch and put me in touch with those you know....in the end it's not what you know, it's who you know that gets the ball rolling...i promise to let people know what is up and hopefully i won't have to go to a job fair this time around.....but enough about that....
in this update i am focusing a small bit on my summer trip to the states and more on shanghai and it's quirks...i have been giggling a lot and making a bucket list for must-do's before i am on my way....below are some of my favorite "chinglish" signs and some of my favorite pieces of art here in the city and just things that make me smile....so on with the pictures....
one of my favorite places i went this summer with my folks was to cape may, nj....the sunset you see above is from there and it is the only spot on the east coast of the united states where you can actually see the sun go down over a large body of salt water...sure you can see it set in a lake or a river...but not salt water....and this specifically has to do with the way nj is shaped....we caught a stunning sunset two nights while we were there....they were spectacular....
one of the other places i went this summer was the air and space museum in virginia...yes, that does say virginia, because i did not go to the one on the washington dc mall...we went to the one out by dulles airport....it's housed in an airplane hangar....and in the picture above, you can see me with the REAL space shuttle discovery....doing my best asian girl pose....this museum was amazing...it had a whole space exploration wing and hundreds of real airplanes and helicopters in the hangar itself....plus, i got to go with my friend laurie and her kids and we had an amazing docent....who helped build one of the very first passenger boeing planes....it was awesome....and i highly recommend going there....
this is what it looks like as you walk into the space portion of the hangar...it's awesome and just verifies for me that someday i still really want to go into space...as a tourist or a teacher or a scientist or even a trash collector...i just want to go....
i figured i would include a picture of me and my family....we take one of these every year...and this year we were all in gray and black...my mom and my brother tony even smiled....well, sort of, for this shot....you really can't misplace any of the four of us....but the left side of the picture shows who is okay with smiling in pictures....and the right shows you who is not....ha!
at the moment this is how shanghai feels to me a lot...hot and humid....and look at all of the pollution...it actually has not been so bad of recent....we have had a couple of "blue-sky" days....which last year were rather rare in this part of the world....when we first got back though, that was not the case....this shot is taken from the flair bar on the top of the ritz-carlton (68th floor)...it was where our welcome back to school party was held....a good time was had by all i think....except for the haze and the heat....but it's still a nice view....
i figured i would include this picture too for all the folks who know the watts....we are still all together...heather & brad too, from the bucharest days....this is later in the evening at the flair bar and our friend jenn is included too :) as i said before....a good time was had by all....
one of the things i feel shanghai does right is flowers....the plants and flowers on the roadside and on buildings and for sale are simply incredible....we even have a guy who is at our school campus every friday afternoon selling cut flowers like these....from his bike....they definitely brighten up the room....although i don't like how they wrap each flower individually with plastic....not really necessary in my opinion....but they still are beautiful to look at and have in your house....
i also am a big fan of shanghai art....this is one of my favorites and i think i might have used it before...but i just find it so cute...i love the elephant with wings....this sculpture is located on one of the best restaurant streets in the city.....so i know i will probably be having a tatsy meal when i see it ;)
this is a picture i took last spring but never got the chance to share...the chinese love their family pet dogs....they dress them up...like the ones above...they put them in strollers....they turn them different colors...they give them different outfits....they give them raincoats and rain boots when it is raining out...it is just hilarious to see how they pamper and treat the family pet...when i took this picture, the lady was beside herself with happiness...she asked if i wanted her to be in the picture and when i said no...she totally understood....hahahahaha.....
here is another one of my favorite sculptures in shanghai....the "flower" tree....now to give you an idea of size...there is a person in the foreground of this picture...behind the white sign...its actually really big....this one just makes me smile....no matter what the weather...its also very close to my apartment....so i get to see it quite a lot....
the picture above was taken because i was a bit freaked out one day when i saw some folks working with this tree....if you look really close at the tree, you will see it has been split open....and the dark grey stuff you see in the center is actually cement....why do they do this??? i have no idea....but i started paying attention to the trees where i walk in this city and have come to find they do this filling in the center of the tree with cement quite often....i have walked past this tree this school year...and it is still growing...it still has leaves, they are green....i am just very confused by this...how does the tree get nutrients???? where are the xylem and phloem???? ahhhhhhh...how does this work and why do they do it???? just another one of those "chinese things", i guess....
this picture was taken in one of my favorite sculpture parks int he entire city....called Red Town....can you tell that one of the clowns on the bike is real....hahahaha....all laowai (expats - foreigners) seem to have this picture....and while i was on the bike, at least three other chinese people were talking my picture too...i have been in hundreds of photos here with my "closest" chinese friends....i know, i know...its because i am stunning and the chinese know it....i know ;)
here's another one of my favorites at the sculpture park....me and einstein....i'm not really sure what the one on the right side of the picture is behind albert and i....but i think its awesome that i have a picture of me and him in china....i have no idea if he even ever made it to shanghai....he probably would have loved it like i do :)
okay....above is one of those horrible "chinglish" signs you see everywhere in china....there are even websites dedicated to these types of signs....they make me giggle everytime i find one....i have to say that i really have no idea what this one is trying to say...as i have no idea what "virescence" actually means....and transmitting the civilization....okay....whatever....
on one of my first days back at school, we had an amazing race planned....me and my van of colleagues decided to head to the bund and have a drink at the captain's bar...it is one of my favorite places in the entire city....and in this picture you can see the super-tall building that is being built next to the one that looks like a bottle cap opener...that's what we call it....the earlier picture above with all of the smog, was taken on top of the pointy building to the left of the bottle cap opener....no one really knows how tall that new building will be...as the chinese are keeping it a secret....it's amazing how fast it has gone up though and they work on it 24-7....i heard it is supposed to be done at the beginning of 2014...i hope so...cuz i want to go to the top :)
one more "chinglish" sign that i saw in the grocery store (carrefour) last week....as you and i know, that is a sign for red cabbage....but i guess in chinese red cabbage is referred to as "European fall the earth"....i hope it tastes the same....to give you an idea of prices...500g of this stuff costs 8 rmb, which equals $1.33....
and one more of the cool sculptures from Red Town...the legs walking down the hill....they are painted with "flags" of different countries and are just really cool....i was so happy this picture turned out...as i took it into the sun on my phone....its amazing how good phone pictures can be....
sorry no drinking picture this time around....but i don't have a good one i can share...something to work on for the next update....this year is shaping into some excellent travel and the first place i am headed is back to indonesia, specifically borneo and sulawesi....borneo to see orangutans and sulawesi to re-cert for diving at the marine park there....or at least get in some snorkeling....i am also headed to israel and jordan with my good friend cat for the winter break....and may have to go to johannesburg, south africa for a job fair in early december....so really lots of excellent travel, even before 2013 comes to an end....
and that's my life at the moment....i hope everyone is doing well and feel to comment or ask questions or whatever....it was nice to reconnect with folks this summer and to hear that people are still reading the blog...although some of you only check out the pictures....and that is okay....i know there are lots of words to get through....but because it is so enjoyed, i will continue to take you around the world with me if you wish and here's to another year filled with safe and amazing travels and adventures...remember to keep me updated about you and your adventures too.....
and finally, if you are headed to china or want to visit, the countdown for me has started and i will no longer be living in this amazing city after june 2014....so come on down if you can, there doesn't seem to be another town in the world quite like it :)
have a fab day and peace out.....dani
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