x-mas

Hey Everybody,
Christmas is near, Shanghai is pretty cold but not really cozy. It get darks around 4:30 in the afternoon, and too cold to go out, at least for my taste ( my Chinese friends tell me I ought to be used to the cold, being German and all; nope, I'm really not a fan ). Staying at the dorm isn't a good option either, as excessive heating using the aircon causes unacceptable electricity bills, as I recently found out when we had an involuntary power cut at six in the morning.
I really miss the whole christmassy atmosphere; While there's quite a few christmas trees to be found in and around the malls, I yet have to see one that's, well, actually a tree and not a shiny mess of metal and plastic. Also, no christmas markets. They had one two weeks ago at the Paulaner's, but I missed out on it. At least they sell cheap Glühwein at the IKEA.
On the brighter side of things: The semester is also coming to an end, only one more week, and we're on break. And after the finals in the beginning of January we have Spring Festival ( 春节 ) vacation, all the way till mid-February. Much more important, though, for those who don't know yet: My girlfriend is coming to visit from Germany. She's already in China, and she'll come down to Shanghai next tuesday. After a couple of days in Shanghai, we'll fly down to Hainan ( 海南 ) and we're gonna have an awesome beach vacation ( 20º+ ! ).
Since I ( probably ) won't be posting again till after the exams, I now hereby wish everybody a merry Kwanzaa and a happy new year!