Settling in - life in Shanghai

No posts for a bit as I lost my initial excitement about having proper access to internet to a certain extent. Am still using it a lot, but more for watching TV (oh how I love thee Project Runway) than for anything else. I'm sitting here drinking tea and eating a cookie and loading an episode of Project Runway, season 5. Not as good as season 4, not even close, as the designers on this season seem to lack... talent. That's a bit harsh coming from someone who struggles to sew in a straight line (I can do buttons though!) but it's true. Where did they find these people? No Christians, Ramis, Jillians or Victoryas in THIS round up. They were going for "diversity" of designers - in terms of style and race it seems - but they ended up with a lot of people who don't have great taste and some who don't seem that good at even basic garment construction! Wonky seams, badly sewn etc.

An overview of my daily life in Shanghai:
- Wake up early, having been awoken by the noisy tones of my grandparents making desultory morning conversation, but in very loud voices as they're both a bit deaf. Sweet sounds of birds chirping it is not. Birds chirping is also way overrated, I'd rather have silence. Oh sweet silence. My grandparents are very noisy people. When they talk, it's loud, almost yelling. When they watch TV, the sound is way up. And every afternoon they play mah jong and then there are 5 old people sitting there being deaf and loud and when they "wash" the tiles (kind of like when you shuffle cards) it's a cacaphony of loud exclamations (of "oh my cards were so terrible" or "oh i was just waiting on this one") and the tiles clanking against each other repeatedly.

- Eat breakfast (usually rice porridge and some small items like pickles, tofu and preserved vegetables) and then walk to class. Except for Wednesdays when I have afternoon class, yes! Sleep in! Although my noisy grandparents wake me up early, they go out to buy the daily groceries which gives me about an hour of blissfully silent sleep.

- Class lasts for a bit over 3 hours, in blocks of 1.5 hours each and a 20 minute break in between. I've started to make some friends in my class and through them met a couple of others which is nice. I went out to a couple of bars (not very good ones I must admit) and ended up slightly hungover on Wednesday afternoon. I think the cocktails here must have some extra poison in them, I only had one cocktail and one beer and should NOT have been feeling that bad the next day.
We have three types of classes: kouyu (speaking), tingli (listening) and the intensive reading course (can't remember the name in Chinese!). My reading course by far is the best as the teacher is very good at her job. She keeps you involved, and even if it is not exactly interesting perse (I mean it's just reading new words, reading passages about unexciting topics like fixing bicycles and being sick etc, and learning grammar structures) but I certainly feel like I want to learn with her. Listening teacher is also not too bad, but we move too slowly I feel. That's partly because I should be in a higher class but you're meant to do everything all on the same level and I'm too lazy to argue about it. Sometimes it's just easier following the rules here. Speaking is stupid, as we don't spend much time speaking, just reading the passages after the teacher. She's a really nice lady, but not much of a teacher so far. Looks like she might be improving, but time will tell.

- Lunch: I was eating this with my grandparents but now have eaten with classmates a couple of times. Both times Japanese! Curry and then ramen. I really want sushi though. Haven't yet scoped out the best places to eat. The area that my university is in is not as cheap as it's fairly central, but my grandparents said there are some good places around. Chinese is the cheapest of course, should eat more of that!

- Then the rest of the day I spend studying and watching TV online (yes, at the same time - although you need to study a fair amount, it doesn't need THAT much brain power).

Overall not hugely exciting, and I've never really been a fan of stability/routine, but that's what it's like here. My grandparents are very big on routine (they're old) so my life gets a little structured around them, and also around classes. They've got a bit of a salsa scene here which I am hoping to look into (found some links to it via Facebook - oh the beauty of FB!) and that should give me a bit of excitement in my life!