I've been negligent with my blog- apologies. Apparently old habits die hard. The first week here I didn't feel that I had that much to write about. I went to work and came home; it was much like being in Toronto only more isolated and with a healthy dose of jet lag thrown in for good measure. Then the weekend finally came, and we had a fabulous time ending with an eventful move to a new building which left us with no internet for several days. Perhaps I'll write about it some time, but right now last weekend feels like an eternity ago. It's amazing how time simultaneously flies and crawls when you're on the opposite side of the planet, and how quickly I feel disconnected from the world when I can't access Skype or email. But we're back on-line, and I'm working on my ability to maintain consistency, so here I am.

Friday lunch time finally came, and with it the much awaited end of the work week. We decided it was time to start properly exploring this fascinating city we're living in, so Lisa and I set out for a long wander. We headed up to The Bund for some views of the famous skyline and a reminder that we really are in Shanghai. We got off the Metro and were immediately hit with throngs of people. There really are a billion people in this country, and they had all come to the same neighbourhood for an afternoon stroll. It was overwhelming to say the least. There were people everywhere wanting to take pictures of the Pearl Tower, climb on the brass bull and traipse after tour guides touting flags and bullhorns. Yes, unlike the comparatively quieter area we live in, this was exactly the Shanghai I remembered from my last trip here.

We walked up the trendy and touristy Nanjing pedestrian street, admiring all the lovely things we couldn't afford then took a turn off the beaten path. After twenty minutes of navigating how to cross the road, we found ourselves in a bizarre "whole sale"market. We poked around trying our best to ignore the constant barrage of harassment and eventually bought a few t-shirts that made us laugh so hard tears were streaming down our faces. After a leisurely dinner we finally headed home and passed out completely exhausted; we were heading out on a day trip the next morning that our Chinese hosts had graciously offered to take us on.

And that story of that will follow shortly...