Little victories...

An additional post this week but it’s been a busy week!

There’s something Joe (my boss) said to me and it’s stuck and I wanted to share it. He said that every day here, every little thing you do is like a small victory. And he’s right it is. I never thought I would get so excited about going in a supermarket, ordering food in another language, getting a taxi driver to understand me or going on the subway would make me feel so proud, but it does! I think because even doing the simplest things here is so much more complex than it would be at home, when you do it right there’s a real sense of achievement.

So yes I finally braved the subway. And it’s fine. I’ve managed to go mostly at slightly off peak times and it’s been no worse than London in rush hour. But when it’s busy it’s a little bit crazy. And – and my London friends will appreciate this – the trains have air-con! And a mobile signal! So even though you’re crammed into someone’s armpit (or they’re crammed into mine as I'm taller than everyone else) it’s still quite cool and you can check your email.

Oh, and it costs me 30p each way to get to work. Yes I miss my Audi but at least I’m not paying 1.35 a gallon for a 60 mile round trip any more. I just have to put up with someone standing on my foot or flipping their hair in my face whilst I’m trying not to whack anyone with my laptop bag.

Talking of small victories, I forced myself to go to an expat mixer last night. It was horribly daunting walking into the bar on my own, knowing how much I normally hate schmoozing and knowing that I had no choice but to not be shy and talk to people.  I had a couple of glasses of wine and got chatting to some really lovely people –namely a couple of Canadian guys who were giving me loads of tips about living in the city, and then a couple of young American guys and a Brit I ended up playing some dice game with – which is hugely popular here and I have to learn apparently if I’m going to be living here. Of course, it involved counting so I was completely rubbish – but not as bad as the Brit guy who lost 5 times in a row. But I think I got the hang of it so if there is a next time, I’m set. I shared WeChat details with the Canadian guys and they’ve invited me to a charity dinner thing in August which would be good.

And on that note, WeChat is awesome!! It’s like What’s App on steroids – you can send photos, videos, games etc, chat to multiple people, make phone calls and video calls from it –it’s so nifty. The best feature is the QR code, which seems quite old school but it’s the new version of putting your number in someone’s phone. All you do is go to your settings on WeChat, load your QR code then the other person scans it and then you’re WeChat buddies. Love it!

Additional: I wrote this on Thursday and it’s now Sunday – I’ve had a pretty crazy and random weekend but I’ll talk about that next time!