Alright, soo past few days, nothing to interesting has been happening. The usual castings and such. Its been kind of crappy weather outside though. Yesterday we went to People's Square, an area downtown Shanghai and we saw some sights and did touristy things such as that. We went to an art museum there too, it was quite interesting! It was like abstract art and stuff, not just the normal paintings and glass bowls and stuff. The weather wasn't so nice, so we didn't stay out long, but enough time to snap some photos! Today is still no so nice, slightly chilly with a wild wind, not fun. We have been going to bed ridiculously early, which in turn means waking up ridiculously early. Example, bedtime starting at 9:30 pm (I didn't even go to bed that early when I was in school and had to get up at 7!), then waking up starting at 7:30, latest 8:30, maybe 9 if i'm lucky. How fun right? I made some new clothing purchases the other day, quite stylish pieces I would say, haha. 2 coats, 2 long shirt thingers, a belt and just a long sleeve shirt to go under one of the long shirt things. I also bought some new shoes yesterday, just plain black heels, as mine were slowly dying on me. That's all I really have to blog about for now, minus a few tid bits of info about Shanghai life:

1. About half of the population rides a pedal bike, motorized bike or scooter thing. (including old men and women)

2. People park and drive on the sidewalk. Not only the bikes, but cars and vans as well. Whens the last time you thought you'd have to move out of the way for a car when taking a stroll on a sidewalk?

3. Men spit everywhere.. gross.

4. It's colder here than Hong Kong, windy quite often as well. I actually need a jacket sometimes, never thought I'd say that.

5. People are quite rude here, they bump into you on the street and don't apologize or probably don't even notice it happened. But overall just a ruder population of people I gather.

6. Pedestrians have to yield to vehicles/bikers all the time, no such thing as being safe to cross at a crosswalk with the walk light on.

7. Some intersections will have the cross walk on the pavement, but no crossing light, so you have to do so at your own risk.

8. There are golf stores here EVERYWHERE. I see them all the flippin time. They are every 5 or 10 minutes I swear!

9. Minimal english is spoken here, its just super

10. The driving is super crazy. They weave in and out like nobody's business and if the person infront of them is going to slow they will just go into the opposite lane to pass, opposite as in cars are coming towards you. There are also no seatbelts, woopeee. Soo most dangerous driving EVER and no seatbelts, perfect! Oh and they don't break until the very very very last second. Like why start breaking early when you can just slam on the breaks right before you hit the car infront of you?

11. Last but not least, I believe I saw a fake Volkswagen Passat the other day. On the back of vehicles, it usually says what it is on the right side, example "Passat". So we're behind this vehicle and I look and it says "Passta", but looks exactly like a Passat. Ummm I don't think VW would make a mistake such as spelling one of the names of their vehicles wrong. Questionable? I think so!

Today I had the day off, so me and my mom went out and did things. We started the day off at the spa (yaaaay!), we each got a massage and facial, it was really really great, I thoroughly enjoyed, so did my mom as her snoring told it all, haha! But the massage was great, my legs are starting to hurt from having to walk the 5 flights of stairs up to my apartment 2 or more times a day! After the massage we had lunch then went to an area called the French Concession. There was a walking tour that my Lonely Planet Shanghai book suggested so we decided to try that. It took you to or by different sights to see in this area. We started off doing the tour, but then got kind of bored, so we made our own paths. After we had enough of that, we went to Tianzifang, an allied/small roads area where there is lots of little shops and restaurants. There are a lot of arty kind of stores in this area. When I first went there with my roomates, I instantly thought it looked like Diagon Alley from Harry Potter! I felt like I was going to buy my wand for the year and my pet of choice! Anyway, so we walked around there, bought things and then we went to a restaurant called Bohemia for supper. It was quite delicious! We basically had walked for about 4 hours straight with no breaks, either than the few minute taxi ride from where we were in the French Concession to Tianzifang. I bought a backpack, my mom likes to call it "fashionable"..in other words, its not just a volleyball backpack like the rest I have, its leather and some other material and has straps and such, I don't really know how to explain it, but I love it! We also bought some little slipper things, one for each of us, I bought a cool hair clip thing, mom bought this thing that has a ball and then tassle on the bottom to hang in her truck window, there is chinese writing on it that means safety. Hmm what else did we buy? Ooh some cool leather bound notebooks, or like the cover of the notebook is leather, however you describe that. I think thats about all the purchases we made today! Mom is already sleeping, its 10:50 pm here, but she was fast asleep at around 9:30 or just before. Tomorrow I'm not really sure what the day is consisting of, so we kind of just have to make up our days as we go. There is a new model arriving though, she is with the same agency as I am back in Canada, but we have never met, we are the same age though, so should be good!

Okay, I'm super behind on this blog, sorry to anyone who is checking and its not updated! I've been in Shanghai for the past week and a half as you know, my mom arrived here on Monday though! Woohoo! She brought me delightful things, such as clothing items, my backpack, thin addictives, dark chocolate covered blueberries and acai berries! Mmmmmm. As well as a package Megan sent along with her, which included 2 magazines, Miss Congeniality 1 & 2, One Tree Hill season 7 and a BFF necklace! I really enjoyed that! I have had 3 jobs so far, all catalogue, 2 were for the same company, called VOA, it was for fur coats, and the other was for cashmere sweaters. Not what you think though.. the "cashmere sweaters" I thought I would be wearing were nice, fancier cashmere sweaters, man was I wrong! I'm pretty sure I wore 150 of the ugliest sweaters you could imagine. Basically just pretend you invited 150 people to an ugly sweater party, guaranteed 90% or even maybe 100% of those sweaters would of been there. It was kind of funny though. They were so old fashioned and just plain ugly in my opinion, as well as they all ended around my belly button, apparently I have a long torso compared to normal people? hahaha. All 3 of these jobs were out of Shanghai, so I had to travel by bus or train about 1 hour and a half to get there. Today I have a day off, so me and mom are going to start the day at the spa with facials and a massage, yipeeee! After that we are going to an area called The French Concession, where we will do a walking tour we found in my Lonely Planet book for Shanghai. I think it takes you to a lot of the tourist sites/places in the area. After the walking tour we are going to go to this place called Tianzifang. I don't really know how to explain it, but its like little streets, kind of alley type things, and there are a lot of art type stores and restaurants in there, its really cool! The first time I went there it reminded me slightly of Diagon Alley! Thats about all for now, I'll try to keep this updated more often!

So this new store or shop opened just a little bit down the street from our apartment, and apparently in Shanghai to celebrate that they light fireworks.. right there on the sidewalk. So one morning at 11am they lit fireworks and they went off for about 20 minutes. IT WAS SO LOUD. It sounded like all of Shanghai was just shot basically. After they did it in the morning, they proceeded to do it again at night, woohoooo. We watched them from my one roommates balconies, it was so close you could almost touch them! Also quite dangerous as they were like touching the side of the building and the glass windows of the apartments above the shop! People here are crazy I tell you. Also, the driving is wild! They weave in and out and they go in the lane that drives the opposite direction to pass vehicles and stuff, its crazy! Scary at times as well.. I went to a casting yesterday and saw a "Kim Hortons". It looked exactly the same as Tim's back at home but just with a K! The writing and the logo and everything was the same, it was so funny! I have only seen one though, I should of tested it out and seen if it was as good as Tim's, dangit! Ooh last night we went for Turkey dinner too! Me and two of my roommates, the one girl knew a guy that was having a bunch of people over so we went! They are vegetarians so there was no turkey or chicken, but they made salmon, mashed potatoes, pasta, vegetables, devilled eggs, spaghetti and appetizers too! It was sooo good! Best turkey dinner away from home! One last thing to mention before ending this for the day.. there is a hair salon across the street and in the morning and at night the employees go outside and stand infront of the shop and do this dance thing to music. Its actually quite entertaining, funny as well. I think they are trying to attract customers, but I am not really sure!

Shanghai

Hello from Shanghai! I arrived here on Friday, my flight was delayed, which happens to me just about every time I fly anywhere! But I arrived safely and was picked up by a booker and taken back to the apartment. I live with 4 other girls, 2 are from Toronto, 1 is from Portland and the last is from Russia, but lives in Calgary now. The apartment we live in is much much bigger than the one in HK, lots of room to walk around and such! I also made more friends in the first day I was here than my whole 2 months in Hong Kong, haha. The guys from the agency, there are 3 of them, came over on Friday night, as well as one of the model's boyfriends and another guy who is one of the other models really good friends. So basically I made 9 friends in being here less than a day! Woohoooooo. The girls here are really nice, they actually talk to to eachother and don't just stay in their rooms all day, like some I know... So it's good here, bigger than HK, also colder! I can wear pants, a tank top and a cardigan and not sweat like wild! It's kind of nice though, because then you don't show up to castings all sweaty and gross. We take a van to our castings, so we all go together which is good, our drivers name is Jackie. I wasn't able to use the internet for the first few days of being here, China is still communist so it tries to block the flow of communication, so some sites like Facebook, Youtube, Blogger and other sites were blocked and people here aren't allowed to use. But good thing there are smart people in this world and they created VPN's that can break through The Great Firewall of China (thats what the blocked internet communication flow thinger is). So I bought a VPN so that I can use the internet freely! So far it's been good and my mom comes next Monday! Also, since we're missing turkey dinner, me and one of the girls from Toronto, I also share a room with her, are making chicken and mashed potatoes, having our own little Thanksgiving feast! haha. We don't think you can get turkey here, so the closest thing was chicken, which is fine! Should be just lovely. Blog again soon, Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay, so turns out I didn't get the job I was waiting to hear about, lame! I found out around 8pm on Tuesday. This meant that I would be leaving on Thursday, talk about rushed! I was waiting to hear about a plane ticket and didn't, but found out this morning that I won't be leaving until Friday now, so tomorrow. I basically have everything packed and realized I overpacked just a tad.. haha. I went and finalized everything at the agency yesterday so I'm basically good to go whenever I hear about my ticket! Also, Hong Kong has actually been slightly cold the past couple of days, if you can believe it. I mean, the other day I could of been wearing pants, a t-shirt and maybe even a cardigan! I definitely could of been wearing pants and a t-shirt and walked around and not even broken a sweat! I hear its like that most of the time in Shanghai now, and that it actually gets pretty cold in Shanghai in the winter months, but no snow. I was so excited to hear that, because I can actually wear pants now and I'll be able to walk around and not sweat like crazy! Woohooo! So I am off to Shanghai tomorrow, I'll blog when I get there and am all settled!

Alright so I'm like a week behind on this blog thing, sorry about that to anyone who has been checking to see what I'm up to! Last week was busy, I had 4 jobs in 3 days! I have been waiting to hear about a commercial since last Sunday, still haven't heard yet. The clients haven't made a decision. I was supposed to be leaving on Thursday, but we didn't book my ticket and put the leaving on hold for this job. At first I was supposed to know by Tuesday, then it turned to Wednesday, then it turned to Friday and now it is the following Tuesday and I'm still waiting!! In other words, if I don't get this job, I have to book my plane ticket about 24 hours in advance, fun right? Not! My friend Jordan who I met in Toronto earlier this year when we both went there for test shoots came to stay with me this weekend. She is modelling in Shanghai right now and is staying an extra 30 days, so she needed to leave the country (coming to Hong Kong is technically leaving China, even though its part of China). So she came on Sunday and just left this morning. We had a lovely visit, good to see her again! And I'll be with her in Shanghai for a month too! Woohoooo! I will also know another model there, his name is Joe. He lives in Edmonton and is with Hi-Fi Models there, which I work through a bit as well. He will be going to Shanghai on the 6 or 7 I think and is with the same agency I'm with, so I will have 2 friends when I get there! Yaaaaaayyyy! haha. Tonight I am taking Joe and Judy out for dinner, a thank you for everything they have done for me, we are going for Thai food! Yuuummmm! Then Tomorrow I have 2 jobs, one is a makeup show where basically I just sit there and they do makeup on me, showing their product. Then after that I am doing a makeup shoot for Max Factor, I think it is going in a newspaper here. I am also going to pack most of my stuff up today just in case it happens that I need to leave Thursday, so I won't be scrambling tomorrow night to get it all done! Hopefully I find out today though, fingers crossed!