After a couple of weeks in Holland, I am back in Shanghai again. The first couple of days in the Netherlands felt weird and uncomfortable. I really had to acclimatize myself; the jetlag, the people, the surrounding. I guess China has gotten in to me. China and Holland are just 2 total different countries. I was walking to the bus to get to work this morning and I was looking at the way people where dressed. I couldn't find one person who was dressed very outstanding or colorful; no trend, no different styles in the crowd. Why is this?
One explanation is that China as a country didn't really stimulate differences. To be different was something "bad". China wasn't really in favor of that, so people where not exposed to different styles and thinking. But you can see the changes in China nowadays. More and more Chinese has their own opinion, styles and thinking. Shanghai is developing new trendy neighborhoods with nice and interesting stores. That's one thing I like about Shanghai; every time I come back I can find some new changes.
October holidays are near. This year, we have a holiday break of 8 days!! The celebration of the national day and the mid-autumn day falls in the same period. This holiday is the longest holiday. If you can choose, do NOT come to Shanghai-since the city will be packed with tourist. Everywhere you go in China, it will be busy busy. My plan was to escape China, but I was too late to book the tickets. Now my plan is at least to escape Shanghai for a couple of days. Try to catch some breath near Hangzhou, between the bamboo forest and the different lakes and natural reservoirs. Still making a plan ;)

YES! Finally I can get on my blog again. China didn't unblock it, but I found a way to get through the Great firewall. Proxy server! A proxy server works as a middleman between the web browser and an end server. When you try to access a website that is blocked, the firewall basically says to your internet connection, “Sorry, but you cannot go there.” So instead, the“proxy,” who is allowed to go there, fetch the information for us whether it’s a blog, video, or whatsoever. So now, I can get on facebook, twitter, youtube and my blog without any troubles. One big disadvantages, many pop-ups appear. This makes it sometimes annoying, but fortunately we can put the system on and off. Hopefully the China government is not reading my blog and find out about these proxy servers. That's why, better not write down which proxy server I am using ;) Anyways, I don't think the government cares about the small percentage who is passing by these firewalls. They are more interested in censorship for its local citizen.

As I have mentioned last time, the weather has been changing a lot. But actually now it has not been changing that much. It is only hot hot and hot. Yesterday was 40 degrees Celsius!! Even in Shanghai, it has not been this hot before. That's why I will take my Friday afternoon off and head out to the swimming pool. :) There is a big swimming place with many slides just outside the city center, in Minhang district. So it should be great fun. I got invited to go, so of course I couldn't refuse.

Last but not least, an update on the building which felt down...now I know who did it ;)