LEGAL!!!!

All legal…WEYHEY!

Sorry, I’ve been a bit quiet lately, all with the getting work papers and feeling slightly under the weather due to all the continental hopping around All is well now again; I’m not sniffling anymore and the tiredness is gone. Flying does take a lot out of you.

After a daytrip to Shanghai a week ago, I have now received my passport back with my resident permit and my official work permit book. I am happy to announce that I am completely legal and documented now ……FINALLY! :)

Shanghai was great. I really have to go back there for a while longer next time. I did not have enough time to see even half of it. And next time I will probably be more awake as I was wrecked from the night train trip from Wenzhou. I think the school tried to save some money and booked me a “hard sleeper” bed. Now for those who plan to travel around China: always go for the “soft sleeper” beds. They are a little bit more expensive, but trust me; you will not regret getting them. The hard sleeper train car is divided in compartments with six bunk beds each. Unfortunately there are no doors between the compartments. So basically it is one big dorm room with about 60 beds. It is doable, but very drafty and noisy.
The soft sleeper train cars are the luxurious ones. Little compartments with 4 beds each and a lockable door to shut out strange people, noise and drafts. That is…. when you don’t get snoring people in your compartment. The loud noises coming from the three guys in the compartment were deafening! To keep from throttling them I had to resort to listening to Guns ‘n Roses on max volume on my mp3 player. Slept like a baby! :)

All had been pretty quiet since then. The kiddies are still great. The annoying ones are beginning to learn that I can be a hundred times more annoying than they are, so they are behaving themselves. And if being annoying does not help, swearing at them in either Dutch or Polish does wonders: both they and the Chinese teachers don’t have a clue what I am saying :)

The river Nanxi crosses Wenzhou. I visited a small island in the middle of the river called Jiang Xin. It’s a lovely little place ideal for daytrips and picnics or just to escape the city for an hour. It is so close to this busy big city, but in places you can forget that there is anything around you.

Last weekend was the Dragon Boat Festival and Sunday and Monday were public holidays. I was looking forward to see the dragon boat rowing competition, but little did I know that this already had taken place earlier last week. All we poor foreigners had to go to the pub to drink our sorrows of missing the race. Since I wasn’t able to make any piccies, I have downloaded one from the internet.

Another milestone in my life was me going to a Chinese hairdresser on my own. He had no clue what I was saying, I had even less of a clue what he was saying, but we got there in the end! :) my hair is a tad shorter than I expected, but it’ll do me just fine in this heat and humidity. It’s amazing how everyday things can become such an adventure if you don’t speak the local lingo :)


I was warned that June would be the rainy month here and oh boy did we start the rainy month with a blast. It must have been the biggest thunderstorm I have ever been in. The world was behind a blanket of water and the lighting was spectacular!
Today was a very rainy day as well, but the humidity is the killer! There is no point in trying to stay dry from the rain, cause you will be drenched in sweat the moment you walk out the door. I’m sure I will get used to 86% humidity eventually…I think…I hope…..

Well, that’s it for now. I’m happily settled in so far and really enjoying everything :)
I have posted loads of piccies, so I hope you enjoy them. :)

So when can I expect my first visitors?!?!?!?!