random thoughts from gay shanghai

So often we tell ourselves what we have to do during the day, the week, the month. Of course, it has its uses

Yes! I'm going to London next Monday, the long-awaited first step towards getting out of this little town (These little town blues...)

After only sending out 5 job applications, I already got an invitation for a job interview and i'm taking the chance to combine it with visiting London, registering with job recruitment agencies, seeing my friend and immersing myself in a big city. God knows I need some excitement.

For lunch I made this great vegetable stew with aubergine, courgette, bell pepper and tomato. Mmm and a pesto I'd made myself.

I love you and I'm proud of you!

Hadn't lived in a house for a long time, just the two-week holiday a year at my parents' which doesn't really count as living, more as staying. But now i'm back for longer term, it'll be half a year i've lived here by the time we leave. After 4 months and a half, I really haven't discovered the joys of living in a house yet, except for the garden of course. What a joy, being able to just sit outside like that and not have to go anywhere, like a crowded park or a cafe with outdoor seating where you have to spend money and endure the waiter's looks while you try to let that one cup of coffee last all afternoon - and there's always the going to the bathroom problem when you're alone somewhere.

No, the whole space thing just has so many disadvantages. When we lived in the apartment in Shanghai, for example, and I was lying in bed reading and felt like a glass of milk, that was just a matter of seconds. Now I have to get up, turn on the light, go downstairs making sure I don't fall, go into the kitchen, get the milk, think about if I want to just have it downstairs or take the glass up with me and then still have to come back upstairs.

But really, the only thing that space is used for is storage (at least in my home). It lets you keep all the stuff you don't want and all the stuff you buy now and will need later (who needs 10 toothbrushes or i heaven's name 48 rolls of toilet paper?). Not only can you store a lot of things, you can also have separate stashes. My mom keeps her household rolls in 5 different locations around the house! Lemonade in 3... We bought a new supply of toilet paper when we had run out, if you have the space, you apparently buy 30 rolls at once...

My allergy flaired up again last night. I don't know what brought it on, probably the swimming triggered it - I always get very runny nose after swimming - but then something else must have completed the circle. By midnight last night I was completely blocked and it was hard to breathe. So I took an allergy pill and fell asleep. This morning I got off to a very late start - slept until 9!! Hadn't done that in ages. This morning was OK, but by lunchtime I was so exhausted again, I just had my lunch (very nice fish in the oven which I'd made) and then went straight to bed after another allergy pill. After a one-hour nap I, the afternoon was fabulous - really enjoyed some outdoors time, the weather was amazing again today. Then I made my favourite aubergine soup for dinner and this time added a cucumber.

I can feel the allergy coming back already, hope I can fall asleep soon, so i'm going to log off now. Goodnight!

I had just arrived home from swimming, when my neighbour (the dodgy one who sells electrical appliances out of his home), called me and said, with a mischievous look in his eye, he had something to show me. They'd found a piece of paper with some scribblings on it. The radio was made in China and they thought it might be in Chinese. Perhaps it was even a love letter!

After reading the first few lines, it was obviously indeed a love letter.

What I imagine happened is this: the guy who wrote this letter slaved awya at the radio factory and he fell in love with a co-worker (haven't we all once...) so noticing his supervisor wasn't around, he decided that instead of putting radios in boxes, he'd write a quick love note to the girl (her name is Chunhua), full of I really like you and I care about you and don't hurt me by not loving me back, I can't stop thinking about your smile. But after having finished his cigarette, the boy's supervisor returned and the boy quickly stashed the letter in the box so his boss wouldn't notice. Right at that time his shift was over and his colleague come to continue where he left off. Seeing no opportunity to retrieve the love letter, it ended up being shipped to Belgium with the radios.

So, no, Carry, romance isn't dead. It's alive and well... even on Chinese factory floors!

Trying
Attempting

To be free
To get control
And
Let it be

Glanced at my ceiling
Full of mosquito bodies

I can really enjoy a rainy cool day once in a while. Nothing beats the feeling of getting up in the morning and putting your warm socks on!

A South-African Pinotage is waiting for me for lunch, it's a magnificent wine made from a not so well-known grape, but one I discovered in Shanghai at Enoteca. Bought one here in Belgium for under 5 Euro! It's a Stonecross Pinotage 2007.

Yesterday we went to the supermarket, thought about buying a bottle of gin. To our astonishment alcohol is more expensive in Europe than in China: Gordon's Gin, Wyborowa Vodka, you name it. In heaven's name why? Fortunately wine is cheaper though...

Cloud's disappearing. Guess we'll see the sun coming through soon!

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