I don’t know how long I was in the dark. Fortunately, my friend Joon shared the important news: Craigslist is now in Shanghai! Hurray! As most of you know, I used to be a total Ebay junkie back in the States. Then, a few months ago, ExpatAuction came to life (it’s just like Ebay). Initially, I was all psyched about it, but after seeing only a handful of postings (and even fewer bids), I lost interest. Luckily with Craigslist, it’s not just about items for sale. It’s like an entire community formed overnight– job ads, community events, for sale, personals, etc. It’s awesome. John and I get kicks just from reading the missed connections listings (I know, we can be so pathetic). Also, I just posted my very own for sale ad. Anyone need computer stuff? Kinda sucks that Craigslist doesn’t offer the certainty of a sale at the end of 7 days, but at least I don’t have to create seven different posts.

In other news, the family is gone. They only stayed for about two weeks, but geez, that was a long time. Things have almost returned to normal now. My classes resume this week. I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. Of course, with John always itching to travel, you never know when that next class will really be. I’m such a slacker teacher, man.

So yesterday was a gorgeous day. Despite my earlier posts dreading the onset of huang mei tian, my friend Helen informed me those days of misery are still a few weeks off. Thank goodness! Still, I was starting to think it wasn’t going to be so bad this year, especially since yesterday was so beautiful. No wonder.

I watched a Chinse movie last week without subtitles. I’m so proud. I can usually understand the overall plots– it’s only when the movies are period pieces that I get totally lost. Unfortunately, the movie “Letter from an Unknown Woman” was sort of lame. In a nutshell, it was about this woman who, from the time she was 15, is obsessed with her neighbor. The guy, a wealthy author (and lothario), actually beds her on two occasions– once when she’s in college and then several years later. In between, he meets her at various social gatherings (they run in similar circles), but he never remembers her. Ugh. Obviously, there’s more to the story, but isn’t that irritating enough? Does she really have to anonymously send him flowers every birthday and then write him a letter decades later chronicling when they met and how much she loves him?

Speaking of films, the Shanghai International Film Festival starts today. John and I might check out some foreign films. I need to practice reading English subtitles– I’m too slow a reader. 🙁 Okay, time to run.