ba yuè er shi qi hao (27 of august)
Last week end, I had to sleep! But I didn't sleep that much...
After a birthday week, having a party every night and having chinese lessons on monday wednesday and friday from 7pm to 9pm, I was a little exhausted, but as it was Lara's last week end, we went to do some shopping to the silk market! (She had ordered some things and cameto take them and I wanted to see the price of the shirts and maybe
buy a cachemire coat for the winter). I don't have pictures of that day, but we had a lot of fun bargaining with the sellers, trying things on, taking measures...etc.
When it came to the choosing part, I chose to buy 4 shirts, but as I couldn't make my mind on only four fabrics and four cuts, I finished by ordering 6 shirts, that I will have on next saturday (I could have had themon monday, but as I work...). (pictures of me wearing the shirts will be here) And I also chose to buy a velvet jacket, very nice, and also on my measures. 460 Yuans RMB for 6 shirts and 360 Yuans RMB for the jacket. That is very honnest... I'll come back again!
On saturday night, I was invited to the meal for Lara's departure in Marco's appartment (very nice view) on the 32nd floor. We ate some very good italian food, I practiced my italian, it was very nice (we were 6, and I was the only non-italian one...). Then, we went to a nightclub, during an hour, to finish the day. When I went home, it was 3amor so, and hadn't replied my mails... So did I, and I finaly went to bed at 4.
Sunday, at 1pm, I went with Damien play ping pong (actually we played from 2 to 3) in a stadium close to work. I lost, but I'll get my revenge on next sunday! This time, I won't be exhausted before beginning... Or I will lose again, but that is because of my lack of training...
After that, we went (still with Lara) to do some shopping again, but without planning anything... Finaly we went to the library, where we bought some maps (I bought one of china for me and one of Mexico in chinese for Andrea), we went in several shops, and I found some oil for my trumpet that needed some. I bought a guitar in that same "shop". not a good one, just good enough to practice a little. Maybe I'll come back because they were selling all kinds of instruments for very cheap... (with a quality problem maybe...)
We ended in a vegetarian restaurant with Marco where we had a very good (and big) meal and were joined later by other friends to end the evening in a very nice "live jazz" bar.
The restaurant surprised us by the number of non vegetarian meals proposed, and especially by the size of the dishes... We thought we had ordered plates and saw huge dishes coming for us...
After the jazz bar, we all said goodbye to Lara, and went home. I did my chinese homework, and ended the week end by having a chat with my parents on msn. I went to bed at 3am... Monday was very productive... ;)
Report week end!!!!
I had to do it... I have a dead line for that... that is in september and I need my ex advisor to read it before I give it to my french advisor... I hate to write reports... I booked my week end for that, and tried very hard to work... on the couch...
All saturday long, I tried it like that, but the TV was teasing me, as well as the pile of DVDs on the table...
Saturday night, I went to an art gallery for the opening of "when art meets fashion" or something like that... but didn't stay long... On the way home, I stopped in a shop to buy a vase, because I wanted to put flowers in my appartment since a few days, but didn't have a vase...
Sunday, after watching a movie, my willpower rose, and I decided to go and work in the kitchen in order not to be disturbed by the couch or the TV. I found out that my kitchen was a little dirty, so I began to clean the appartment... That was not productive, but at least I did something useful... Man, that was dirty! Anyway, after that, I managed to work a little and wrote in a few hours most of the report! Woooohoooooo!!!!! Only 5 pages left to write (approximately)
Then I went down to the Quick store next to my place (24/7 store), payed my bills (that is so cool, I just go to the store with the bills, and pay there, no need to send anysthing!), bought a meal, and went out to buy myself some flowers. I'm very happy of my flowers! the vase is not very beautiful, but I love the smell of the flowers!
Rien à say / Nothing to dire
Ce week end, j'ai pas fait grand chose, alors je vais pas vous raconter les films que j'ai regardé...
Certes, je pourrais vous raconter la soirée art contemporain a laquelle j'ai été vendredi soir, ou la soirée italienne a laquelle j'ai participé samedi soir (ou il y avait un peu de tous les pays, donc on se perdait dans les langues a utiliser) , mais etant donné que pour ces deux soirées, j'etais totalement denué d'appareil photo, le récit de ces evenements serait un peu lourd... surtout qu'une soirée reste une soirée, c'est sympa, mais que raconter d'original sur une soirée? J'aurais pu parler d'art aussi, mais l'apreciation serait subjective et ne donnerait rien sans les illustrations... Voila, donc aujourd'hui, je poste pour dire que je ne poste pas... Etonnament, je raconte ca en Francais... quand je dis que je meperds dans les langues a utiliser... J'ai rajouté un lien, c'est vers le site de Damien, je sais pas si ca passionnera les foules qui se pressent sur mon blog, car c'est un style un peu différent, mais ca m'évite de devoir me souvenir de son adresse de blog et quand je fais ma tournée de lecture de blogs... (comment ca je suis un gros flemmard?)
Sorry, I naturally came back in french, as I was not thinking about what I was writing... Anyway, that message was to say I didn't do much this week end, and that as I don't even have pictures, it would be even more boring to read... I went to a contemporary art exposition on friday and to an Italian party saturday night. Not much to say about my week end then.
There is just a new link on my blog, but I'm not sure you will use it as it is kind of a special type of blog, it is there mostly for my personnal use...
First weekend in Shanghai
Last week end, we decided to stay in Shanghai. That was good for several reasons :
The first reason was the price off the previous week end
The second one was to make me visit some places in Shanghai before Pierre goes away.
So we did, we took our time for once and didn't get up at 7:00am! We went to the fake market. It's a huge place with many little stores where you can find every kind of things, but mostly clothes. The funny part about it is that the clothes we can find there are all fake ones. For example, I tried som puma shoes that were really uncomfortable, and that I could buy for less than $6... You can also find a lot of rolex there, some Jiesel T-shirts (they din't always correctly copy the brand) and other things for really cheap.
Then, we went to a library were we could find official DVDs and CDs, official enough to get the right to bring them back to France. Their price is not the same, but still reachable : about $3 each... Then, we went to the bund (a nice part of shanghai, next to the river where many people love to hang around)
On sunday, we went through the old city, it is very "movie on china" like! it looks quite poor, there are very small houses, and it looks like if it was not shanghai anymore... Then we stopped to visit a nice temple to play video games! (ooops, actually, only Camille did that ) We visited it, it was really nice and calm. We stayed there for an hour or two, and then moved to the silk market.
The silk market! It looks like a paradise to me! a lot of shops selling fabrics and sewing it for you. For example, I found a coat made out of cashmere, and if I ask them to create on for me, at my size, it costs less than $60!!!! (Such a coat would cost at least $400 in France)
I'm gonna put a lot of money in clothes here!
Around 6, to finish the day, we went to see the sunset at the top of the Jin Mao (one of the tallest skyscraper in the world for the moment).
Beijing trip (Day3 : Forbidden City)
We left the hotel at 7am for Tiananmen public square, went round the square in 10 minutes (the largest public square in the world) and went straight to the forbidden city. We passed some people selling umbrellas for 10 Yuen (~$1.10) and bought some tickets while it began to rain… Sent Tessa to buy some umbrellas while queuing for the tickets, and finally went in the Forbidden City. I let you enjoy the pictures in music…
Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du
Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du Du
I´m singin´ in the rain
Just singin´ in the rain,
What a glorious feeling,
And I´m happy again.
I´m laughing at clouds
So dark, up above,
The sun´s in my heart
And I´m ready for love.
Let the stormy clouds chase.
Everyone from the place,
Come on with the rain
I have a smile on my face.
I´ll walk down the lane
With a happy refrain
Just singin', singin' in the rain.
Dancing in the rain.
I'm happy again.
I'm singin' and dancin' in the rain.
Dancin' and singin' in the rain.
After that, we ate, and then visited the “round city”, that was close to the Forbidden City but far less crowded. It was good too, there was a park just behind, a big one. It’s so nice to have such a big calm place in a city… We went down the park and at 5 o’clock, we left for the airport, where we had to be very early, as Tessa had lost her ticket. Because of stormy sky we left later than what we should have, and arrived at 1am in the apartment in Shanghai… I’m working today and I’m a little tired…
Beijing Trip (Day2 : Great wall)
Sunday, we woke up at 5:30 am, to take the underground, the bus, and then a taxi to a part of the great wall! Man! That was cool! The problem in China is the time it takes to drive 110km… It took us almost two hours and a half… 
We didn’t choose the closest part of the great wall, because those were overcrowded, and had been so over-restored that they don’t look like a part of history… 
We were on an old section, almost ruined on some parts, with workers restoring it. We went through 12 gates, and that was some sport… It was so hot over there! 
Just look at the pictures, you’ll see how hard it was! I even bought a hat in order not to be sunstroke… (the price was about 1/30 of the last hat I had bought). 
On the way down, Tessa and I chose to use the attraction of the place, by going down a Tyrolean. That was funny, and not scary at all as long as I didn’t look at the wheel… Our taxi driver was waiting for us down there (he has waited for us during four hours, according to the plan) and we went back to Beijing the same way, backwards (Taxi, bus, underground). We slept well again that night…
Beijing trip (Day1 : Paradise Temple)
This week end, we went to Beijing (Bei = North, Jing = capital city). We chose to go there by plane, because we didn’t want to spend half of the week end in the train… At the last minute, a friend of Jacopo, a friend of Pierre (that makes her a friend of a friend’s friend), came with us, that was Tessa, an English girl, who happened to be very nice. The first day we left Shanghai at 7am to be in Beijing something like two hours later, and just after finding the hotel, we went to some place to eat, and visit the “paradise temple” and its gardens. The temple is quite impressive, as it has been repainted recently, and though, it looks almost new.
The gardens were, for most of it, just trees put in lines with grass underneath, so they were done quit
e fast. A good part of those gardens is near the exit, where there are several groups of people doing Chinese music with instruments I had never heard about before…
Once out of there, we went to a sort of antiquities market, where there was a lot of ancient things, such as statues of gods, of Mao, old things from the Ming dynasty…etc…
After all that in the heat, we felt exhausted, and we came back to the hotel. We ate nearby, bought some stuff for the picnic of the following day, and slept.
buy a cachemire coat for the winter). I don't have pictures of that day, but we had a lot of fun bargaining with the sellers, trying things on, taking measures...etc.
We ended in a vegetarian restaurant with Marco where we had a very good (and big) meal and were joined later by other friends to end the evening in a very nice "live jazz" bar.
