http://i.imgur.com/qdxnhOs.png <== Click this for full size
In order to continue to feed myself, I’m going to allow people to pay me to draw for them.
What I wont draw Things that are really really NSFW (softcore, nude drawings and people in sexy lingerie are cool) gore.
What I will...
MY FRIEND IS THE COOLEST AND SHE DESERVES ALL THE COMMISSIONS. :)
I'm finally getting around to making a new blog. :) And since I really enjoy taking pictures, I figured it'd only be natural for me to make a photo blog. Hopefully I'll remember to update it every day, as I (almost) did with my blog in China. The link is listed in this blog so check it out if ya'll have time. Enjoy the rest of your summers!
So, after being back for a few days, I have to say that jet lag is taking a pretty big toll on me (as it should be, I guess...). I get extremely tired around 7pm-ish, which is part of the reason that this post hasn't been written yet. I've become pretty accustomed to sleeping early, which is definitely a habit I hope to keep, even as school starts.
As for being at home, I'm really happy here and the only complaint I would have is that I'm not getting enough Western food (or any kind of food that I can't get in China). LOL But that's a fairly minuscule issue.
I think China has really made evident what kind of person I am and has given me an idea of what kind of person I hope to be. And even though I'm not 100% sure of how I might end up in the future, I know that I need to become a lot more patient with the people I interact with every day. There are a lot of problems with what kind of priorities I have in my life and a lot of problems with... well.... how I live my life as a whole.
I hope my experiences in China really shine a light on how I can change for the better because I know that I can be a better person.
Sometimes I wonder when exactly I became so tired of people and when I changed so drastically into the person I am today. But thinking about it now won't do me any good; I'm extremely determined to change for the better.
This will be my last post in this blog since my three months in China are finally over. Extremely proud of myself for finishing this blog like I said I would, but it's a bittersweet moment since I'm so used to blogging that it's sad that it's over now, haha.
Maybe I'll start up a new tumblr for random updates on my life. :) Keep an eye out for it!
But until then, thank you all for the support! You all are wonderful and I love each and every one of you. Thank you a million times over again. <3
My morning started really early at 3:45am or so (after going to sleep at midnight-ish). But I guess it was okay.. except that in my rush to leave the house, I left my choir sweatshirt in China. Oops.
(天上是个很深的蓝色，太阳还没有出来)
(浦东机场)
Now, there comes a moment in every Chinese person's (or person of Chinese descent's) life where you end up taking too much back from the mother country and have to rely on someone else to help you out. LOL When I came to China, the people behind the counter told me I could check-in my 10kg bag for free because it was too big to fit on the plane. Unfortunately, this time around, they told me the combined weight of my suitcase and my backpack had to be 7kg.... uh oh.
So I ended up pulling a guy from the side, hoping to God that he spoke English and that he would be willing to help me out. LOL Although a little wary, he decided to help me out in the end and it was great because I've made a new friend. :)
His name is Kenny and he's from Ghana. I think he's super cool and he's extremely nice. :) He's already treated me to a lunch, bought me a bottle of water and helped me bring in my suitcase haha. He's also invited me to Ghana, if I ever got the chance, which sounds like the best thing ever. :D
Then... the sun rose and we talked about faith and God; he put a lot of things into perspective and there was a lot of things that I didn't think too much of that really mean a lot more than they seem. It was a good talk. :)
(太阳刚出来)
Unfortunately, on the plane, we were separated by the seats and since he had one of those emergency exit seats (which didn't have a TV...), I figured I'd stay put where I was, next to two Italian men. LOL One of the men was in the fashion industry and could speak very little English while the other man I had a nice conversation with, was in the furniture industry. His name is Max and he married a Chinese woman so he's been living in Hangzhou for 10 years now. I can't imagine how good-looking his kids are... since they're halfies and all. :p
Of course, since I'm extremely awkward, I was in the middle and felt like I was intruding on their Italian conversations. LOL And then we began our descent into Dubai and I wanted to take pictures of the outside... so I asked if I could reach over Max to take pictures. He didn't seem to mind, but I felt bad nevertheless haha (and that's why I prefer window seats always!).
(这是迪拜！看得到世界的最高的高楼。)
Pictured above is Dubai and its extremely plant-less environment. LOL But it looks like a cool place to visit, nevertheless. :)
Anyway, after the plane landed, I reunited with Kenny and we decided to do a little duty-free shopping... after all, we both had over 10 hours to spend at the airport haha. I followed him as he bought phones for his friends, which resulted in many different varieties from many different brands being bought. But during this time, my back was really about to die from the weight of my backpack, so I fidgeted awkwardly for a while before thinking to put my backpack on my suitcase... genius. :p
We then decided to get lunch. I decided upon a tuna sammich with an "appletiser" drink.
(是一种苹果汽水)
I guess if I were to describe it, it's just a version of America's Izze sparkling apple cider. LOL But Kenny was incredibly nice about it and treated me to lunch, as well as shared his lunch with me; I'm really lucky to have bumped into him and asked him to help me out. :)
After lunch came a lot of random sitting, listening to music, playing my DS, using my laptop and phone until batteries started to run low. But there was a really nice man who let me use his adapter for a little bit so I could somewhat save my computer's batteries. Surprisingly, for the time I spent at the airport, you'd think I would be a lot more agitated than I actually was. But the people I met were so nice and I had such great conversations with them that I didn't mind the wait nearly as much as I thought I would have.
Many short naps later, Kenny and I went to go have some dinner, to which he treated me again. His reasoning?
"When a girl and a boy go out to eat, the boy has to pay."
Well, there are just a lot of things I could say about that, but considering he 100% won't listen to me, I figured I'd save myself some arguing and negative feelings. LOL
(希腊芝士，黄瓜，番茄，橄榄，和洋葱沙拉)
(最便宜的选择是～8快美金，但还好吃)
During dinner, we were asked by our Filipino waiter if we were a couple......... so completely off-base and awkward. LOL But the waiter was really helpful and very smiley so I guess it's okay. :p Kenny asked me to take his picture too, and it's really the least I can do for all the help he's given me.
(肯尼在吃三种不同的味道鱿鱼)
Afterwards, we separated for a bit and decided to meet at the gate where my plane is taking off because he wanted to buy more candy and phones for gifts, whereas I just wanted to sit down and do nothing. LOL
After using my computer for a bit, I was approached by this little girl who was really cute. So I said "hi" and introduced myself. As a disclaimer, her parents were nearby and completely okay with me talking to her so it wasn't creepy haha. But she was really curious and kept asking me questions about.. well.. everything.
Aisha: What vegetables do you like? Me: I like cucumbers. Aisha: Cucumbers???? I don't like vegetables but I like fruits.
Aisha: You have a little nose. Me: Oh? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Aisha: Little noses are for kids. Big noses are for big people.
Aisha: Where's your grandma? Me: In America. Aisha: Where's your sister? Me: In America too. Aisha: Where's your brother? Me: Also in America. Aisha: Where's your small sister? Me: I don't have a small sister. I'm the smallest in my family. Aisha: *looks at my legs* You can't be the smallest. You have big legs.
LOL Probably the most enjoyable conversation I've had in a very long time. Her mom kept apologizing for her questions, but I think her curiosity will make her very, very bright in the future. :) Her mom understands that, but I guess it does get a bit much to have a child who consistently asks questions like that, haha.
(这是Aisha，希望我将来的孩子会像她一样的)
Unfortunately, our conversations were cut short since they were waiting for a flight to Mumbai. But I ended up giving her one of my souvenir fans, which she was thrilled about receiving, and maybe she won't forget about me in the future. :)
Then there was the difficult decision about whether to buy an adapter or not to charge my laptop for the remaining 4 hours I had left to wait. The salesperson was really kind, but Chinese and spoke to me in Mandarin...
... And I kept forgetting that I was no longer in Shanghai so I kept spewing Shanghainese at him and realizing too late that it was not the right language to be speaking. LOL Extremely awkward. Ended up deciding against buying it since a 30 USD investment was just not worth it. So I just downloaded Skype on my phone and connected my phone to my computer, draining my computer's energy to power my phone. LOL Yeah, I guess I'm pretty good at managing to think outside the box a little bit... just kidding. :p
The plane ride was pretty smooth. I ended up sleeping for probably half of the flight, which is not bad, and watched other obscure movies for the other half. Maybe I should've brushed up on my Korean by watching some Korean movies... oops.
Let me digress a little bit. For those of you who know me well, and this might be too much information for those of you who don't know me as well haha, I have an extremely large bladder (or maybe I'm just dehydrated all the time), so I don't feel the need to go to the bathroom as nearly as often as I should. But that makes being in a window seat so much more easy since I don't have to bother people to get out all the time haha.
Now, as I mentioned above, there is a clear reason why I love window seats.
(飞机上的日出，我们在英国上面)
It's because of views like my picture above, or of cities coming into sight, or of fields and plains and wind turbines that I love being able to look outside of the window and feel like the world is just a great place to be. It makes me feel like I'm good enough by just existing in this world, and it's just a really refreshing feeling; after all, most of us live in a world full of stress and worries and it's just relaxing to be able to forget about everything for even a little bit.
As for now, I'm back home after 48 hours of being in-transit (including the time my parents took to pick me up from the airport and bring me directly to Flushing to go grocery shopping LOL) and I'm exhausted beyond belief. There is just going to be so much jet lag and dying in the near future, so if I see you, be prepared for a lot of unnecessary talking (to keep myself awake). LOL
I'll make some sort of meaningful post-summer post tomorrow. Too tired to finish everything tonight. :p
今天是我在中国的最后的天。
I was woken up this morning at 11:30 by a phone call from one of the ladies I tutor for. Awkward... the lunch she invited me to was at 11:30 and not 12:30. LOL It's obvious that I am just entirely too discombobulated to function properly. But needless to say, I rushed to get myself out of the house, resulting in me leaving behind the candy I was going to give to the kids.
But lunch was good and I didn't end up being too late, which is always good too haha. Kimi brought his new pet hamsters to lunch (in their cage, of course) and his mom kept referring to it as a "mouse". LOL But it was really cute and I played with it too. :) Reminds me of Emma's adorable hamsters.
(小孩儿真可爱的, Kimi在蹲下，Jerry在站在我边上, Kevin今天忙，没有来)
Afterwards, my aunt and I met up and headed over to 城隍庙 one last time to get all my shopping done. I didn't get a chance to look up how many people I had left to get things for, so hopefully I didn't miss anyone. LOL My mom said that she needed a toothbrush holder for Matthew and that she got the one she has at my house from a certain seller in 城隍庙. Fortunately, it didn't take us very long to find this store, but oh my gosh. It might be my favorite place on earth. I spent over an hour looking at things and buying 200 yuan worth of cute goods haha.
(太大的，没办法带回家 qq)
I bought a plethora of goods and intend on giving most of them away. :) I also bought some water guns for the boys I tutor for so I made a stop at their houses to pass the gifts on before returning home (or rather, the mall so I could drop off the card for my dance instructor haha).
I'm leaving this house in T-minus 4 hours. I feel kind of sad, kind of excited... but I can't really say how I feel about leaving China as a whole. :(
I'll probably say something meaningful later while I'm stuck in Dubai for 14 hours... buying supposedly delicious food (according to Patricia). :p
I woke up today at 8:30am from a call telling me that I didn't have to tutor one class (with two kids). I misunderstood the Chinese, since it could have been interpreted both ways, and thought I didn't have to tutor at all today. Extremely awkward when I got the phone call asking where I was... an hour after my class started and clearly not on my way to her house, but shopping instead... LOL I must've left a terrible impression on her. :( But I hope that I can make it up to her somehow... but probably not considering I'm leaving in a day. Oh well... at least the kid gets a break from all his private tutoring and studying?
Anyway, I ended up going to Qipu Lu with my aunt and Jerry, the genius kid... which was a little awkward because as a guy with little fashion sense, I don't think he enjoyed spending hours looking at socks, pants, and shoes with my aunt and me. LOL But he didn't complain at all and was really nice about it; he's a really good kid and I appreciate him/his personality. :)
On our way home, we were attacked by a gigantic storm, only narrowly missing it by ducking into the subway systems. However, when we arrived at the station across from my house, there was immense amounts of flooding.
(电话拍这张照，水无处不在)
I was the only one with shoes that weren't going to be bothered if they got soaked... so we waited for the rain to stop and the water to go down a bit. And then people got smart and put bricks in the road so people gathered around and crossed the flooding on the bricks. LOL I got sick of waiting and ended up trudging through the dirty water... awks.
Anyway, after getting all of the tiny pebbles out of my sandals and somehow making my way back home without drowning (in 3 inch deep water haha), I took a break from everything before going out again for dinner with Sarah and her parents. Where we went was a total surprise to me though...
(是个泰式饭馆。。很多人跳舞，也会拉吃饭的人一起跳舞)
Surprise, surprise... a blast to the past. LOL This is the very same Thai restaurant where Diana, Sarah and I came four years ago. And look who's still working there... Romel! There are really no words as to how awkward this encounter was because I was just a complete fool four years ago and everything was just awkward then. LOL I just didn't have enough sense to notice it...
Anyway, so as the musical group moved down the aisle of tables, this one man stares at me as he walks by with his drum set. He proceeds to say "you are really beautiful" while staring at me. My response? Awkward laughter and "thank you"s. LOL
So this guy plops his drum down next to my table and Romel proceeds to drag me up to dance with him...... again.... awkward. I'm pretty sure he didn't remember who I was, and I'm extremely thankful that he didn't. LOL And as a side note, I don't think my hip-hop dance classes helped me very much while he was teaching me how to salsa haha.
After this dance, the first man introduces himself and I can't hear his name clearly enough so I'm just like "oh uh huh" as I usually do when I don't hear someone and don't feel like asking them to repeat themselves. LOL Then the most awkward thing that's ever happened to me... happened: Romel takes my hand and drags me toward him; all the while the other guy grabs my other hand and says "这是我的 (this is mine)".
Mind you, these people are Filipino so him being able to speak Chinese came as a little bit of a shock to me. Additionally, I'm not sure if I should be insulted that he referred to me as a "thing" and not as a "person". LOL I think I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say his Chinese isn't nearly as good as I thought it was. :p
Other than that, the food was really good! Curry is one of my favorite things in the world, so being able to eat my fill of curry was extremely satisfying. Unfortunately, I couldn't eat that much since my family has been taking me out all week so I've just had no appetite lately. :(
(真贵的饮料，是猕猴桃香蕉冰沙)
(最好吃的猪肉，以为是头颈肉)
(下咖喱，特别好吃！)
(左边是有一点像蜗牛的东西，右边是牛肉)
My aunt packed my luggage for me today (because we all know it'd be an impossible task for me to accomplish...) and one of my giant suitcases is 1kg overweight and the other is 1.5kg overweight. This is just going to be a mess when I get to the airport since I still have shopping to do tomorrow... woop woop.
[Number Of Days Left In China: 1]
Today was initially going to be the day that I was supposed to get all of my shopping done before leaving... nope. So basically I had to flip my entire schedule for the next three (now two) days I have left here.
My aunt and I decided to eat lunch today at Xiabu Xiabu (pronounced much like the Japanese's "shabu shabu").
(呷哺呷哺是个火锅快餐饭馆)
(我们点的牛肉套餐)
During lunch, my aunt invested in this keychain/cell phone charm that lets her get discounts every time she goes back to Xiabu Xiabu. LOL It's in the shape of a roll of raw meat, drinking a soft drink haha:
(这么奇怪，肉在喝汽水)
After eating a ridiculous amount of food, we headed over to the hair-cutting guy's house so I could order some stuff on taobao for Claudia. (For Claudia: I ended up getting you all of your socks, the cell phone case, the see-through cardigan, and the sunglasses, which came to a total of 212.70 yuan).
Exhausted from ... well... not really doing anything demanding, I took a nap on the couch, only to be woken up by the children multiple times to play with them. LOL So I got up, took pictures of them and taught the older girl how to play Five Lines. :)
(妹妹拿着气球，小姑娘抱着妹妹，娘娘抱着两个小姑娘)
After chilling there for a while, my aunt and I left to go reserve our spot at the hot pot place (the same one I went to with my cousin and his wife the other day) we had intended on going to for dinner. It was my turn to treat my two uncles, my cousin, and my aunt for a meal, since they've been more than accommodating during my stay here. :) Unfortunately though, my uncle's wife couldn't make it since she was working overtime. :(
Outside of the restaurant, I saw this playing and I knew I had to take a picture of it solely for Nick Cage:
(不知道这是什么电影)
(I apologize for the confusion with all of the family names because it's hard to differentiate uncles, aunts, cousins and other family members from each other in English. LOL)
Dinner was really fun and I definitely ate a lot more than I should have today. LOL The weight I lost from dancing is coming back at a rapid rate (or so I think?) but I guess I'll try to maintain a healthier lifestyle of DDR and jogging/biking/exercising when I go back to America. :)
I'm kind of sad that I have to part ways with my family, piece by piece, because it's going to be difficult to see them again. :( But one day, I'll be back in China!
... And I won't stay for 3 months so I won't get sick of it. :p
[Number Of Days Left In China: 2]
Okay, I know I'm cheating for these posts and posting them on the dates they're supposed to be posted... but oh well. :p I've been getting less and less motivated to post things up, although these past few days have been pretty eventful... since I'm leaving and people want to meet up with me one last time before I leave for x number of years.
Anyway, I woke up to my uncle's voice in the living room, telling me I should get up and that we needed to head out soon. Of course, knowing me, I just looked at him for a while before actually doing whatever I needed to do before leaving. LOL Today was a day meant to be spent with my great-uncle and his two daughters (my two aunts, one of which housed me for the first week of my time in China). My cousins couldn't make it since they were busy with their internships. :(
So my uncle made a deliberate trip to my house on his motor scooter, despite how far he lives from here, because he knew I really liked riding on the bike. LOL I guess I have a soft spot for people who ride motorcycles and motor scooters. I think it's extremely exhilarating... but realistically, too dangerous for me to get a motorcycle license haha.
After many wrong turns and going every which way, we finally made it to my aunt's house. From there, my two aunts, my great-uncle and I made our way to the Super Brand Mall, where we were going to have lunch together:
(正大广场有世界的头等东西。特别贵。)
To be honest, I'm not really sure of the name of the restaurant I went to, but omg, it was really good. My aunt ordered way too much for the four of us, resulting in an expensive check, but despite the mess that happened during lunch, it was still really fun. :)
(舅公的饮料，各种各样的水果汁)
(金枪鱼沙拉！！我很想你。<3)
(中国的。。taco。。。很怪的味道 T_T)
(亚洲最好吃的面包)
(奶油蛋糕)
Afterwards, we did a little bit of window shopping, since clearly I can't afford anything in this mall... LOL On our way home, I ended up buying a scarf at a store near my aunt's house. :)
At her house, I was given a lot of things to take back with me to America so my great-uncle and I hailed a taxi and lugged all my stuff back to the house haha. During our trip back, the weather got suddenly terrible... just my luck. But really, just my luck, because when we arrived at my house, the rain stopped. :) But the mosquitoes came out. -_-
I spent the rest of the day extremely full, playing Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time. LOL And I got McDonald's delivered to me for dinner hahaha. Life in China. 尴尬
[Mosquito Bite Count: 81... and let's hope that count doesn't get any higher haha]
[Number of Days Left in China: 3]
Today was spent with my mom's best friend's son and his wife, which was pretty fun. :) They're really nice people, and they like to window shop so that makes it even better haha. We decided to revisit Qi Bao, a place I went to toward the beginning of my time in China but didn't enjoy as much as I could have because of the person I went with.
I tried a bit of new foods during my time there:
(红菱，英文名字是"water chestnut")
(藕粉汤圆)
(里面有很多各种各样的东西)
(是一种草莓香蕉味饮料，有冰，奶油，饼干，等等)
It was while getting the above drink that this MV was being shown at the store:
(EXO-M的History音乐片, 还觉得有一点乱七八糟 LOL)
So awkward because my 哥哥 (my mom's friend's son) thought I was interested in the 帅哥s (good-looking guys) but I was interested because I saw the MV before when Charlotte showed it to me during the school year. LOL
Afterwards, we went to this mall nearby and had lunch, where I ate until I was extremely full (we can all see that my dancing might have paid off earlier... but all dat weight's comin' back haha):
(画个鱼，特别可爱)
I got the chance to eat this... thing. I'm not really sure what it is other than it's part of a frog, it's eaten in a papaya and it's really good for your throat. LOL It doesn't really taste like anything, but the texture would probably throw a lot of people off. I had to not think about what I was eating in order to eat it.
(雪蛤，可以加椰奶或。。。别种奶)
Afterwards, we went to an outlet, very much like Woodbury Commons in NJ. And there, very much like NJ, we waited on line to get into the Coach Warehouse store. Unfortunately, unlike NJ, the prices there were still ridiculously expensive, even with the 50% off they had. LOL
(很像美国的Woodbury,都是名牌店)
Extremely exhausted, and I think the other two noticed from me passing out in the car luls, I guess I made it clear with my gestures and sluggish movements that it was time to head to my mom's friend's home for dinner. It was there that we were greeted with amazingly prepared food:
(很多选择，都是新鲜的)
Almost all of the dishes required me peeling shells, so for once, I had to overcome my laziness and peel them as to not insult my hostess for not eating her food. LOL My favorite dish was this:
(赖水虾，有很多刺)
Yup. I pricked my finger a couple of times on this mantis shrimp and it still hurts... awks. But the conversations that ensued during dinner were really fun, and I really enjoy hanging out with this family. :) I can see why my mom (and the rest of my family) like them so much!
Saying goodbye was a bit difficult. I know I won't be back in China for quite a few years from now, so I won't get to see them for a long time. But maybe the little girl will come and visit me in America (and treat me to the plane tickets to Korea that she promised me jk hahaha).
This "morning" was pretty awful because since I took a 5-hour nap the day before, I had an almost-impossible time getting to sleep. So I went from my aunt's bed to grandma's bed and talked to her about things she used to do when she was young. And then I went back to my aunt's bed since grandma's pillow is too uncomfortable for me to sleep on. LOL
But this resulted in me getting up at 3pm, walking to grandma's room with an extremely grumpy countenance, laying back on her bed and falling asleep again until 4pm. LOL My aunt just laughed... and I'm sure anyone who saw my pathetic excuse of "getting up" would have laughed too. :p
(So it's not awkward, I share a bed with my aunt so we sleep on the same bed at night haha)
Anyway, I was invited to go out to dinner by my cousin and his wife today, so off I went with my aunt to 龙之梦 for hot pot. :) Surprisingly, it wasn't as awkward as I had expected it'd be; she got my aunt face masks and a necklace for me, which was really nice of her.
My favorite part about eating hot pot is the free kimchi they have:
(韩式泡菜)
Of course, it's clearly not authentic enough to be real kimchi... but I suppose it's a good enough substitute. :p
My aunt ordered sea urchin fish balls; I've never had sea urchin before, but I took my aunt's word that it was good.
(海胆丸子，很好吃)
They were in a cool teardrop shape and tasted as good as they looked! I was very pleased and hope that all other sea urchin encounters are as tasty as these fish balls.
I also tried lamb again, just for the sake of trying it to make sure I don't like it... yup. I don't like it. LOL It's too... game-y for me to like it.
Anyway, we decided during dinner that we were going to watch a movie afterwards. Which movie you ask?
(冰川时代4，我奇很喜欢这些电影)
For those of you who can't read Chinese, yes. I watched Ice Age 4 in China. LOL Surprisingly though, I actually really enjoy Ice Age movies so I guess I'm pretty Chinese in that regard. :p
We bought our movie tickets fairly early so we sat in Subway's talking and just chilling for a while. While we waited, I decided to take some pictures for my cousin and his wife.
(堂哥的妻子)
(一起拍个招，好看好看)
For some reason, they're one of the only couples in China who don't make me mad or bitter. LOL But don't get me wrong; it's not because they're family. Hmm...
So then we go into the movie theater, and the 3D glasses they give us are really intense haha:
(这么厚的3D眼睛)
The theaters are also significantly smaller than the ones in America (or at least those in the Palisades Mall, but I guess that doesn't really say much about the rest of America...):
(是，这是我双脚哈哈)
But the movie was good and I enjoyed it thoroughly, which comes to my next point. There comes a point in everyone's lives where he/she is asked the question: "What's your guilty pleasure?"
To be honest, I couldn't ever think of one so I just said something that was supposed to be embarrassing. But after today, I realized that my guilty pleasure is watching cartoons with people who are supposedly "too old" to enjoy them. :p The problem with this is that... I'm not ashamed at all to admit it, so does that make it a guilty pleasure?
Guess I'm just forever a kid at heart. :)
So I woke up too late this morning from being extremely tired all the time... so I had to take a taxi. Unfortunately, there was at least 5 other people hailing taxis on the same street so I ran to a neighboring street. Then, after waiting for a few minutes, I spotted a legitimate taxi on the other side 10 lanes of traffic. Even more unfortunately for me, the light to cross the street had just turned red.
Now to digress a little bit, I have this theory that the Chinese police don't catch dangerous drivers (i.e. almost everyone in China) as to control the population (as terrible as that sounds haha), but then Chinese people got too good at dangerous driving for it to work. :p
So I ended up having to run across many, many lanes of oncoming traffic, waving my hands in the air like a madman, in order to catch this once-in-a-lifetime (or once-in-30-minute) opportunity. Kind of reminded me of Frogger... but in real life. LOL
What can I say? I guess I just like to live life on the edge.... just kidding.
Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that the lady who hired me to tutor is one of the nicest people ever. She bought me this to take home:
(玻璃杯子，放冰块在里面以后不会卡喝孔)
She also gave me more money than I was supposed to be paid today; "oh, you don't have to give me change for the 300 yuan I'm giving you". Gahhh, I wish that when I get a job one day, my employer will be even half as nice as this woman is. :)
Anyway, after getting home and downloading some games on my newly downloaded Steam account (thanks bb for buying me stuff while my debit card is in America LOL), I took a nap.... for 5 hours. Awks. But totally worth it, despite still being tired luls.
I went to McDonald's with my aunt for dinner and we got this bubble tea with pastel colored bubbles. Turns out it was "fruit" flavored, and extremely sweet (especially for something Chinese haha). But it was good and we discussed plans of how I'm getting home.
Oh wait, did I mention that I'm coming home on the 18th?? I have one more week in this place before I go home, so I'm really excited to be home and see my family/friends again. :) My plane takes off on the 17th at a bright and early time of... 7:15am. -_- I guess that also means I'm not sleeping Thursday night. LOL Additionally, my tickets were pretty much moved 4 days earlier so the times are exactly the same but after reviewing my previous itinerary, I realized that I'm stuck in Dubai for 14 hours, waiting for my transfer flight. T_T I guess this means I have to download all of the Steam/DeSmuME games before I get there luls.
But I digress, after dinner, my aunt and I did some shopping and searching for things before deciding that we're going to go on a manic shopping spree this Monday before I leave China. Have to finish buying souvenirs for people and buying presents for other people. :)
But on our way back to the house, we stopped by this store that has everything. I bought some subway card holders for friends and then there was this for Matthew:
(以前)
(以后)
Hahaha, actually the most ridiculous thing I've bought in China (minus the crazy, 神经病 donkey). But anyway, tomorrow I go out to dinner with the cousin I haven't seen since I've gotten here... we'll see how that goes. :p
So this monstrous typhoon hit somewhere not-too-far from Shanghai yesterday, which resulted in my tutoring getting canceled (for obvious reasons haha) and me just lazing around at home all day.
Since... you know... it'd be counter-intuitive to willingly go out into a typhoon. LOL I tried to take a picture of what was going on... but it just looks like an ordinary day:
(一定要相信我，是台风的时候)
I have a video that might shed some more light on the situation... but uploading videos on tumblr has been a pain and not working lately so I'm not even going to bother. :p Since I was staying in all day, I ended up playing some Mahjong with grandma and my aunt. My aunt helped me review how to play so now I'm good to go if anyone wants to come at me haha. :D
(我的最高的牌,有六个花！大钱哈哈哈)
And as some of you may know, I've gotten into the Professor Layton games (so good!!) so I'm on my third one now. I hope I never finish because I won't have any more left to play after this one. :(
Anyway, as for today, I got a lot of broken sleep this morning so I've been extremely exhausted all day. But the weather cleared up and I was able to go tutoring. Afterwards, I came home and then left shortly after to pick up Michelle from the subway station.
... While waiting, I was harassed by some strange Chinese people who tried to get me to go with them to their church. Apparently, according to their church, a "heavenly mother" exists and has come back to earth twice? LOL Kind of ridiculous but somehow I managed to get them away after appeasing them and telling them I'd go to their church when I go back to America....
..... not.
Anyway, Michelle and I went to get our nails done; she ended up with a darker-than-ideal red while I ended up with a brighter-than-ideal pink. LOL Our lives are just full of 后悔s. Just kidding. :) (Well, I don't know about you, Michelle haha.)
(粉红色太。。分红)
But anyway my aunt's cooking was really good (as always :D) and dinner was a fun time (with Michelle's awkward conversations with Andy haha). Unfortunately, I don't get to see her for another few weeks until school starts.... or is that unfortunate??? Just kidding! :D
So I started the day looking for kids' games to play with the kids I tutor hoping that I'd find some game like "I Spy" where they can practice their English. Google ended up giving me results that were online websites for free kids' games. Awks.
Anyway, after tutoring, I rushed to the restaurant where my aunt made a reservation for me, Michelle, another Wellesley student and herself. Unfortunately, the other girl couldn't make it so my aunt and I waited for Michelle to finish work before letting the waiters bring up the food. We had a good 2-hour long talk about everything before Michelle showed up. LOL But the food was so good, omg.
(Apologies for the yellowish quality of my pictures. My aunt forgot to bring my camera with her on her way out so I was taking pictures with my phone. Awkwardly, it makes pictures taken inside kind of... yellowy.)
(世界上最好吃的海蜇头)
(外婆的红烧肉)
After we ate... and ate.... and ate some more, we took a short walk to 龙之梦 before we all got some Haagen-Dazs (I've learned to spell it from my time here haha). And everything we ate was so beautiful (photo creds to Michelle and actually having a real camera luls).
(提拉米苏蛋糕和冰淇淋)
(比利时巧克力球)
(外面有个像巧克力鸟巢的东西)
(里面也有很多冰淇淋。。。以为有八个球？)
(我们吃了包死了)
I think we all almost died from eating so much food yesterday. LOL
As for today, I stayed up way too late last night playing Professor Layton games so I ended up waking up equally as late. But eventually, my aunt and I went to this really nice public pool where she tried to teach me how to swim like a frog (there's probably some sort of technical name to this... but I just don't know it :p). But the thing about me is that I have this huge fear of not being able to breathe. So dunking my head under the water for long periods of time (or even short periods of time rapidly) is just entirely out of the question. But I'm pretty pro at doggy paddling, so I think that's good enough for me. LOL
We went out to dinner afterwards, eating delicious noodles and some coconut sago for me. :D So good! But no pictures because bringing my camera unnecessarily to a public pool is just commonsense-less haha.
As for tomorrow, this is what the weather said:
Yes. I had to look up what "squalls" were. LOL But hopefully things will be okay and that the incoming typhoon/hurricane won't hit too hard.
So yesterday, I went to the outskirts of Shanghai with my uncle, aunt and 12 other friends of my uncle. LOL Awkwardly, I was the only "年纪轻“ person... but somehow still the most exhausted of the 15 people who went haha.
Our first stop was at a lake an hour's drive away from the hotel. We were supposed to take a boat out onto the saltwater lake, but the wind was too strong and the boats were only going to start running when the winds died down... which might've been never. So I took a few pictures before we left.
(有一点像上海的滨江大道一样)
(如果我们乘船，我们一定会翻到水里面)
(怎么这么好看的人)
We ended up going to a restaurant afterwards. It made a lot of countryside dishes, which is one of the best parts about going out of the city center. :) The dishes that people in the country make often include a lot of the vegetables that they harvest by hand, so it's definitely a healthier choice (and still delicious!).
Afterwards, we made our way to our hotel, where two of the rooms we rented out had a mahjong room attached to the bedroom. LOL I think Chinese Mahjong tables are actually the coolest things ever. They have a hole in the middle where you can put all of your tiles and the table will automatically shuffle and organize them; while you wait for your tiles to be shuffled, you can press another button where it'll already have a set all ready to go that rises from the table. So cool!
(麻将桌子很酷的)
(叔叔一起在打麻将)
(我的舅舅的吗还将牌)
Unfortunately, I couldn't take the smell of all the smoke very well, so I ended up hermiting in my room and playing Professor Layton games (of which I can't solve maybe 1/3 of the puzzles and cheat by using the insta-save on my DS emulator LOL). There was supposed to be internet, but the ethernet cord wouldn't work for me. :( But time to myself in the room gave me a chance to notice the sun outside and how awesome it was. :)
(以为是很漂亮的。)
(太阳是世界里的最漂亮的东西)
After freezing and not having the common sense to turn off the AC (derpderp), I was called down by my uncle to have dinner. It was really 热闹 (boisterous) and well.. just a typical Chinese dinner. :) I had a glass of wine with my uncle's friends, since they were all drinking and gave me a toast... it'd be wrong of me to refuse, haha.
(奇怪的葡萄酒瓶子)
(有一点像美国的肉)
(人都在聊天)
(非常热闹)
(干杯！)
It was decided that after dinner, we would make a trip out to karaoke. Yes, listening to drunk Chinese adults singing karaoke... always a favorite past time for Chinese kids haha. But we walked for a bit, and got slowed by all of the street vendors selling things along the way. Tempted to buy another crazy dancing donkey... but didn't bring my money with me. :( Anyway, I was greeted by this when we arrived at the karaoke place:
(中国有世界的最。。。创意的商标)
Yes. That is Mario... with a pirate hat... singing karaoke. LOL Best logo ever hahaha. But the singing was fun and I feel like almost everyone enjoyed their time there. :)
We ended up going home at 11pm-ish, where I proceeded my Professor Layton marathon until 2am when I decided to take a shower. I actually just crouched in the shower for 5 minutes trying to figure out how to work the water. LOL Who knew two knobs to turn on the faucet/shower head and temperature of the water individually would confuse me so much... awks.
So I thought that going to sleep at 4am was not a terrible idea because my uncle said that we were going to go peach picking "early" tomorrow morning. I forgot how subjective that term is because my idea of "early" is 9am... while a normal Chinese person's "early" is ... well... 6am. Ended up getting 2 hours of sleep and dying on the way to the country person's house. LOL
The only people who ended up going were the 5 women because the men played mahjong until extremely late and passed out forever. LOL But because I have the worst luck ever, my flip-flops broke when I got to the peach trees. And being the awkward duck I am, I was dragging one foot while trying not to be awkward... but we all know that that's impossible when you have a broken flip-flop. T_T So my aunt used grass that she picked to tie my shoe together so I could at least kind of walk again:
(。。。尴尬)
There are just no words for how awkward this picture is. LOL But anyway, we ended up picking a few peaches here and there before deciding to wait back at the house because there was just no way we are in the least bit prepared to fill 18 crates with peaches. Leaving it to the professionals was a good choice. :p
(桃子树很矮的，最高的树是比我差不多高)
(这个桃子还生的)
(我摘了这个桃子，不小的)
But these people also grew other vegetables/fruits, like pears, grapes, eggplants, squash... etc.
(他们种雪梨树，我们摘了几个尝尝味道)
(这个番茄很像正常的番茄一样的)
(他们的葡萄有一点酸，可是也好吃)
It's really cool to see things you eat grow. :) I think I would've liked to have been born in the countryside... I love harvesting things. LOL But then again... I do like my sleep and not waking up at 4am every day. :p
While people were packaging the peaches into crates, I made a friend with the grandma living there. LOL She was a little forgetful so she must've asked me how old I was at least 5 times, but that's okay. She was cute. :) But looked a lot older than she was (but that's probably because I'm used to being around old people who are very fit for their age, i.e. my 86-year old grandma at home and the 95-year old grandma here).
(只是八十四岁，但是很可爱的 hehe)
Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and I passed out until it was time to check out. LOL And then there was lunch and I continued to almost pass out. It was extremely hard to stay awake, even while eating... awks.
(可以选要吃什么。有脑子在照片前面。。。)
But nonetheless, I did eat some stuff and proceeded to get broken amounts of sleep until I got home... where I passed out for 4 hours. LOL
No dance classes for me, I suppose. I want to give one of my instructors a card for being awesome though... maybe I'll get on that soon. :) It dawned on me that I have 2 more weeks max in China... I can't say I'm extremely happy, but I'm quite excited to return home. :p
[Mosquito Bite Count: 73 -_-]
Until we meet again a year from now and you can fill me in on all the details of your awesome year abroad!! :)
So I started off today with a vidchat with Andy and that put me in a surprisingly pleasant mood for a majority of the day. I don't remember the last time I started the day in such a good mood. LOL But it was a really nice change of pace. :)
I ended up playing "I Spy" with the boys for a majority of the time I was tutoring. It was supposed to be an exercise where they get to practice their English to describe things they see. Unfortunately, they limited themselves to shapes and colors so it was almost impossible to tell what they were looking at (especially since shapes were limited to squares, rectangles, and circles...).
Afterwards, I came home and left an hour later to meet up with Josie-Dee and all of the other friends she invited for dinner. The place was in a pretty high-class area of Shanghai, so as a result, it was a little on the pricey side. But thank goodness we had 9 people to share the bill. :p
(新天地有很多外国商店。特别贵，但也特别好看.)
So Josie-Dee picked this restaurant, famous for their 小笼包. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's one of the distinguishing foods that Shanghai has. It's pretty much like a meat bun, but uses a thin wrapping. But the best part of this dish is the soup inside each 包. Primarily eaten when dipped in vinegar with ginger slices in it, a 小笼包 is definitely a must-have if you come to Shanghai! It's actually the best thing ever. :)
(肚子饿了，很快捡起来)
And this place even has dessert 小笼包, which was a first for me. We ended up getting a serving of chestnut/red bean paste 小龙 and a serving of taro filled 小龙.
(栗子红豆杉小笼包)
Today was just a good night of good food and good company. :) But after dinner, we all went out and talked a bit where Josie-Dee and I took a picture or two together.
(好朋友 :) 哈哈)
Afterwards, Ben and I split from the rest of the group and walked/talked our way back to the subway. I have to say I did get back home a little late and I hope I didn't 影响 my aunt in any way but otherwise, it was a great night!
As for tomorrow, I'm getting up early to go peach picking with my uncle and 11 other people. LOL I guess this weekend wasn't meant for dancing, which also brings an end to my dancing career. :( The Caster crew has been really great and I really am satisfied with the people I met, the classes I took and the instructors who taught. :) .... Maybe I can sneak one more class in when I get home on Sunday haha. :p
For Josie-Dee: I wish that your travels are exactly what you want them to be and wish for the best for all of your endeavors! :) Can't wait to see you again fall senior year. Stay safe!! :D
[Mosquito Bite Count: 70, yay (?) the big seven-oh LOL....]
That's right. Today was the first time I've watched a musical live, despite having been a choirbee since I was about 8 and having been singing for pretty much all my life.
And it was in China.
And it was Shrek the Musical. LOL
To be honest, it'd be nice if the entirety of today was as pleasant as my night was, but no complaints, I suppose. I won't get into detail about what happened earlier, but just know there are times where I really hate China.
But anyway, I definitely enjoyed myself a lot tonight! As much as I'm unwilling to take the time and money out to watch live musicals (or just the time to watch movie musicals), I really do enjoy them!
So our (meaning Sarah Cen's, her friend's and my) seats were extremely close to the stage; we were the 8th row on the ground floor so we got a really good view! Then there were kids sitting in rows in front of us who couldn't see because the chairs in front were too tall. Awks.
(我们坐了这么近！但是各个的票是480元)
I don't really know how musicals work in America, but in China, you're more than welcome to take photos of the performance, as long as there's no flash nor recordings involved. :)
(Hopefully my tumblr doesn't get frozen by some Broadway organization or something for this... LOL)
(童话里的明星)
(童话的明星在麻烦Shrek)
(第一次见面毛驴)
(Lord Farquaad 在威胁姜饼男生)
(Shrek和毛驴看到大头的人以为这个地方很奇怪)
(很多人跟Farquaad一起跳舞。Farquaad的男星一个音乐会在膝盖上)
(Translation: The guy who played Farquaad was on his knees the entire musical.)
(三个女人做Fiona。可是音乐会大多数的Fiona是当中的女人。)
(毛驴和龙)
(不知道Fiona也是个。。。绿色的人。 LOL)
(Fiona吹笛子，跟老鼠一起跳踢踏舞)
(Shrek, Fiona, 和毛驴一起疯的)
(毛驴跟三蒙老鼠一起唱歌)
(拥着里面的怪物)
(Shrek和Fiona最后结婚了)
(明星一起开始俯身)
(毛驴是最酷的人物)
(正前落幕)
So the best part of this musical was that it was entirely in English! No awful translations for me. But then there's this moment when a joke is said and I laugh in response... but the joke is lost somewhere in the Chinese subtitles so I end up being one of the only ones who laughs. LOL 'Tis the life of a 尴尬女人.
If you want to see more pictures, let me know! I've taken almost 400 pictures of this musical... and I sincerely hope that it's allowed to be on tumblr. LOL
Afterwards, since none of us had dinner, Sarah's mom picked us up to go have late-night dinner. And it was sooooo good!
(很有名的面包，亚洲都有。台湾的朋友和韩国的朋友都吃得到.)
I only took a picture of the bread that I wanted (and almost ended up eating the entire thing because I felt obligated to eat it). LOL But there was so much to eat and I think this was the first time in China where I ate so much that my stomach hurt afterwards haha. I guess it's gorging like that is okay occasionally...
Anyway, turns out I'm not going with my uncle to the island this weekend anymore because of the impending hurricane doomed to hit Shanghai (or at least graze it). WHICH MEANS THIS WEEKEND IS DANCING WEEKEND. Let's see how many instructors I can take pictures with this time hahahahahaha.
[Mosquito Bite Count: 68]
Literally. I've been buying a lot of fruits with the money I earn from working for my aunt and grandma because I know it's one of the only things that grandma can eat with no problem. :) So after the lady I tutor for dropped me off at the subway station, I noticed a country folk fruit cart outside of the stairway leading up to the actual stop. After looking a little bit, I realized that she was selling figs, and since I haven't seen any figs around here yet, I thought it'd be a good gesture to buy some mostly ripened ones for grandma and my aunt. :) I haggled my way to getting 4 for 10 yuan when I noticed another fruit next to it. The lady running the cart let me try it and it tasted very much like an extremely sweet cherry tomato, which is pretty awesome. LOL
(很不容易在上海找得到灯笼果，我觉得味道还可以)
Although slightly on the expensive side (12 yuan for 500g), it was a good buy since 5 yuan got me a lot more than I thought it would've. :) It's something I've never seen before, and it's extremely rare to find in Shanghai. Both my aunt and grandma forgot the name of it... but eventually we found out it's know as a Deng Long Guo, or its English name, a cape gooseberry. LOL
We also tried to cut open one of the little kiwis today to see if they were ripe yet.
(就像大的猕猴桃。。可是小的)
Nope, still as sour as ever. LOL But I can't wait until they get ripe so I can just pop a whole kiwi in my mouth. :D
On an unrelated topic, today's dance class was the best dance class I've had so far... and the actual instructor wasn't here to teach the class. LOL I'm not saying the choreo instructor is bad though, don't get me wrong! I'm saying that the temp instructor we had was incredibly funny... and it was just an extremely fun class haha. :D
[Dance Class Count: 17/40 (choreo) that moment when you realize you're not going to reach 40 LOL But I've had so much fun in class, it doesn't even matter haha :D]
