St. Maartin

I’m wrapping up my fun-filled vacation by spending a couple of weeks in the Caribbean with family and friends, on one of the smaller islands ‘Saint Martin’ which is half French and half Dutch (literally – there’s a border). It’s wonderful here, except for the almost total lack of internet connectivity (probably a good thing really). My tan is amazing!

Shanghai is ‘mafan’

A great word to know if you ever visit Shanghai is ‘mafan’, which basically means ‘annoying’ or ‘troublesome’. Everything here is quite a bit more mafan than I’m used to. For example, there is serious construction going on everywhere around me, including right above my friend Matt’s apartment where I’m staying. Every morning I wake up to ‘bam-bam-BAM’ ‘zzzzRRRRRRzzzz’ and other wonderful sounds – the noise is unbelievably loud, so I’ve started sleeping with my headphones on which helps a little.

Regardless of the mafan here, I’m having a fantastic time – Matt and his girlfriend Vicky have been showing me around this massive, chaotic city, and I’ve been enjoying every minute of it (except perhaps the morning parts).