One week of freedom left

This is my last week of freedom! Well, not "freedom" but summer vacation. After this week, I will be back in the routine of classes, school, and other work. Right now, I just have speech contest practice during the summer which isn't too bad at all. On the days I have practice, I go in from 9-11 am and then I'm free the rest of the day. Some days, I don't even have practice! Living the dream...haha

But anyway, I just got back from a trip visiting Sami in Shanghai, China! It was a great time and we really had a blast. Here's the rundown:

August 17th (Friday) - Take off from NRT at 6:15pm and arrive at Shanghai. We went to club Muse and I saw my friend from college who I hadn't seen since I graduated.

August 18th (Saturday) - Hung out around Hongkou and went to the shopping mall in Hongkou. I picked up a pair of khaki slacks. For lunch, we got these flaky pastry things with cheese inside. Delicious. Also ate a bowl of delicious/cheap noodles at the shopping mall. For dinner, we ate

August 19th (Sunday) - Went to a flea market and then went shopping in People's Square. Walked on Nanjing Road as well. We ate dinner around People's Square. Delicious Chinese food!

August 20th (Monday) - We went to the French Concession. We ordered custom shirts. I ordered 3 for a total price of around 200 dollars...very cheap! Usually one custom tailored shirt would cost nearly the price of the 3! We went to dinner to a Hong Kong restaurant. Delicious!

August 21st (Tuesday) - We all went to Suzhou, a historic town a little west of Shanghai. We took a train to get out there. We came back to Shanghai in the evening and took it easy.

August 22nd (Wednesday) - Dave and I went to People's Square to continue some shopping again. Sami was at work so we explored while he was gone. We ate lunch at the mall and had the soup dumplings. Then for dinner we went to a Yunnan restaraunt called "Lost Heaven" ....so delicious!

August 23rd (Thursday) - Our last day! We stayed out very late and didn't get to sleep until nearly 4am. We ended up waking up around 1pm and had to leave for the airport right away to catch our 5:00pm flight.

Then on Friday I had an orientation for the new ALTs that came to Japan this past July/August. I had 2 presentations and was still preparing for them last minute. I stayed up til 3am and then had to wake up again at 7am to get to Chiba. Haha...I was on a serious lack of sleep.

Later on Friday evening, we had a welcoming dinner and everyone was out. Some decided to stay out all night and I was talked into it! So I ended up staying out all night on Friday and then on Saturday I hung out with some friends in Kashiwa. Finally on Saturday evening I got home and was able to relax. On Sunday, I headed up to the beach to meet up with a few friends in the Asahi/Sosa area. It was a new area to explore so I wanted to see what it was all about. I met some cool folks and had a great time.

This week, I'd like to make the most of my free time and check out the beaches again while they're still open for the season!