It's About Time

So I finally booked my flight. I know it’s much later than what I had planned on, but the date is finally settled. I will be leaving SFO on the 27th of April and getting in to PVG the next day at 5:25pm. Mark your calendars, let’s do dinner Shanghai bitches!

Finalizing up plans. I booked my flight to San Francisco today. I am going to go spend some time with Yuri and then I am planning on heading to Shanghai around the 22nd. Excited!

Going Going, Back Back...

It’s been a looooong time since I have updated this blog. Over the past year I have been spending most of my time in Salt Lake City, but I have also spent a lot of time in San Francisco and Los Angeles. I have met a rediculously special girl, and have had some great experiences.

I have been planning and waiting for the right time to make the journey back to Shanghai, and I will finally be headed back this coming month. That means this blog will return to being updated on a regular basis. So come back around to see the trouble I get up to in the months to come. See ya soon Shanghai.

Home For the Holidays

So I have finally taken a chance to update since being back in the States. At the moment I am in Idaho at my parents’ house for Christmas. I just got a call from Li and Reggie to wish me a merry Christmas. I miss them a ton. I miss Shanghai and my friends there.

Things with work did not turn out as planned in coming back to to Salt Lake City. Some deals fell through which means my plans changed drastically. The life I wanted in SLC isn’t as I planned. Because of this it seems it would make more sense for me to be in Shanghai right now. I am thinking sometime in the Spring I will head back, but for now I am hibernating.

Delay

So my flight was canceled due to the typhoon going on right now. This was how frustrating my day was today.

- Hauled heavy, heavy luggage down 4 floors to cab
- Payed $25 to go to airport
- Waited 30 minutes in line, and paid $5 to exchange my remaining RMB
- Checked baggage
- Customs, security check, all the usual airport hassle
- Waited to board plane
- Boarded plane, sat in row with nice lady
- Had an empty seat between us, extra stretching room, rarely happens
- Taxied on to the tarmac, waited
- Taxied back to the terminal, waited
- Exited the plane
- Back through customs, huge line
- Back through security
- Huge line to re-book my flight for tomorrow
- Picked up heavy-ass luggage
- Payed another $5 to exchange my USD back into RMB
- Waited in line for taxi
- Payed another $25 for a crazy ride back to my house
- Heavy, heavy luggage back up 4 floors

There is only one flight per day out of Shanghai to San Fran, so please let the rain stop, I don’t want to go through this again tomorrow.

Ugh.

The People We Meet

This past week has been one of the best weeks spent in this city. Simply spending time with the people here that I have grown close with is enough to make me happy. Some friends and I were talking the other day about the coolest experience we have all had here in Asia, and you would think most people would say something to the effect of “walking on the Great Wall”, or “Visiting the largest Buddhist temple in Thailand”. While these experiences are amazing, we all agreed that the most amazing experiences you have in Shanghai is simply the people you meet.

This past week in China has been national holidays. This means a lot of people leave the city and make the streets rather empty, and allows a short break from some of the madness. It has been really nice. The last Klash Dance party was the past Wednesday which everyone came out to and made it a great time. And yesterday was the Yue Festival that was an awesome amount of fun (see photos)! And to top off the night was an F1 afterparty at Pirates that I DJed at.

I leave on Monday to go back to SLC. It’s pretty sad to be leaving some of the recent friends I have started hanging out with in the past month or so. There is a lot of potential to make some lifetime friends that I feel like I may be missing out on. I hope to be coming back out to Shanghai sometime next spring. For how long who knows, but we’ll see what happens then.

Yatch @ the Yue Festival.

Goodbyes.

The people we meet, and the times we share, are more valuable than any belonging you could ever own. I am so grateful for the times I have had and the good people I have met. I will never regret my decision to move here, but it is always very, very hard to say goodbye. I will miss you dearly.

To good friends, and good people.

In Limbo

It’s now less than two weeks until I leave Shanghai. It’s hard not to start getting a bit anxious. I feel like even though I know the next two weeks will go by too fast, and when I am back in SLC I will miss this place and everyone here, I am wanting it to get it over with. I was looking at the upcoming shows in SLC and I am so excited to see good live music again on a regular basis. I am excited to go to see a movie with my friends on the big screen. I am excited to see nice sunsets again and the mountains. I am excited to play music with Jeff again. I am excited to see my family and my Mom’s silly new dog. I am excited to have stupid fun with all my friends and have Sunday dinners with my roomies.

But before all that there are some things I need to finish up here. I know I will be back but I don’t know when. I don’t want to take the last days of my time here for granted and I need to make the best of it.

The Time Has Come

I called this morning to schedule my flight back to the States. As always I have mixed emotions about leaving. This is the longest period of time I have spent here in Asia and it has become regular life for me now. I must say I don’t think I could live in Shanghai for years at a time, but it must be one of the most unique cities in the world, and this will definitely not be the last of my time spent here.

It’s a rainy day here in Shanghai, and the mood is somber.