much 愛 from CHINA

Genesis 12:1-4

2010-07-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

“The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you.
I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
So Abram left, as the Lord had told him.”

If a friend asked me to jump off a bridge, I’d ask ‘why?’ and probably respond ‘heck no.’ but if God told me to jump off a bridge, my reaction should be something different. Considering I view God in a higher esteem than a friend. I’m no Abram, but if God wants me in China…

Abraham is one of my favorite people in the Bible. To even have the slightest amount of faith he had…
I don’t think my moving to China can be separated from my relationship with God. A comprehensive people pleasing answer to why I’m moving to China has often been ‘China’s where it’s at right now, and that’s where I want to develop my career.’ But honestly when it comes down to it…

I’ve prayed. I’ve listened. I’ve read. And I’ve decided. If God wants me in China, China, I’m coming.

It’s crazy, the moment I decided to stop my own planning, everything fell into place. The money, the visa, the approval, even the lack of fear. Perhaps, this comes off to some as a naïve decision, but if I crash and burn… I crash and burn, and will have learned something. Abraham would never have fathered the nations the way he did if he stayed put.

In a month, I’m taking off on a 19 day trip around Europe. I’m considering this my pre-career vacation. And then shortly after… I’m jumping.

There's many more thoughts on this matter. Consider this a pre-long post warning.

Why these two pictures? Life is like a marathon. Training is tough, the race isn't any easier, but the end is filled with the satisfaction of completing it. The marathon this year kicked my butt, but it only makes me want to work harder, train harder. Same goes for life.

Much Love.

and with that, another chapter ends...

2010-02-24T18:22:00.000-08:00

...and a new one begins.

I’m back in Milpitas -_____-

Coming back to Milpitas, everything feels strikingly familiar, and yet everything has changed. The streets are the same, I can still drive them in my sleep, but the trees, the stores, the street signs, all look … different. In my four years away, it’s as if the city grew up, and I simultaneously grew up, somewhere else. That seems to be the story of my life, as I can never situate myself in one location long enough for it to define me… I’m not a small town, little suburbs girl from the Bay Area, I’m not a cosmopolitan girl from Hong Kong or Taipei, nor am I a surfer girl from La Jolla. And I’m definitely not a Beijing local. Talk about identity crisis. Each city, town, and place, played such a crucial part in molding me. And yet, I belong to none. Each city I make my home for a short while, does not care that I’m there, gives no regard to me leaving, and simply continues growing… developing… without me.

It thus seems safe for me to say, I come back to my hometown, Milpitas, and feel displaced. I cannot find a place for myself here. It’s too small, too within the box, too cookie-cutter Asian family dream. “I live in the suburbs, in the Silicon Valley, I drive a Lexus, I own a two-story house, my kids go to one of the UCs.” Hm. Sound familiar? Sadly yes. And I refuse to compile with these rules.

So what then am I? After each experience, people always ask me… so did you change? Any answer but ‘yes’ would be a complete lie. But when I search for concrete words to describe exactly what’s different, I come up empty. There are really no words to describe how I feel, what I feel, and what’s changed. It’s precisely this inability to conjure up explanations that threw me into depression 2 years ago coming back from Hong Kong. Being a bit more ‘cultured’ and a tad less ignorant this time around, I hope this drop back into America, this reverse culture shock, doesn’t leave me anti-social, with a constant desire to sleep, and with an urgency but inability to cry. I could attempt to document here how I feel, what’s changed, etc etc. But this is an daunting task, I will not even attempt, knowing I will come up short. This is all to say that, I come back to Milpitas a completely different person than when I left 4.5 years ago. Some things won’t change. I’m still short and tiny (although I’ve undoubtedly gained weight since I was 18), I’m still Chinese-American (although back then I probably did not identify with the Chinese part), I still adamantly love Jesus, I …, I … guess that’s it. At least from my perspective.

I hate the idea of having to move home, in my mind, I’ve seen so much, learned so much, experienced so much, only to end up where I started. As much as I feel like an outsider in this city, I don't have another option right now, unless my dream job blatantly falls in front of my face.

I’ve thought about it for the past few months... constantly, and haven’t spared any brain cells, trying to figure out what’s next. An MBA seems possible, ideal perhaps, but not without a more focused direction. An MBA entails too much to just pursue blindly. An MBA from a school in China? That seems more focused, right? But hold that thought. Do I really want to spend another 2 years in school. Freakin, I’ll be 25 by the time I graduate. -____- I’m all too eager to start working, to start striving for my ambitions. I’m tired of being kept within the limits, and yet those ‘limits’ scream at me daily, telling me that I am only 22, inexperienced, naïve, ignorant, careless, and prideful. And then there’s the part of me, that doesn’t even want to work. I just want to travel the world, see things, meet people, eat good food. Because I know once I get caught up in dreams, there is no slowing down. Businesses do not start, only to have their staff disappear for a year or two, to ‘have fun,’ and pick up where they left off. Thus, a 6-month trip around Southeast Asia is something I’m saving money for. The quicker it can happen, the better, so I’m looking into different means to have a job, without being tied down. Nothing that will keep from wanting to drop everything and leave for half a year. In my head, this is just as impractical as it sounds written down. But one of my worst fears is complacency. Complacency in work, complacency in relationships, complacency in life. The idea of settling on something because it’s safe and comfortable, hindering me from pursuing something bigger, better, the best, chills me to the bones.

Shoot, once again a tiny little update has turned into me spewing out thoughts right and left.

In brief, life as it looks now: chill in Milpitas, spend some time in self-improvement, meaning I am going to finally start cooking, and baking, and cleaning my room. :D I’m going to develop good habits, and go from there. I’m going to train for another marathon, which is happening June 6 in San Diego. I’m going to rediscover my love for leisure reading. I’m going to sew things. I’m going to draw more. And I’m going to figure out a master plan for my business. All while trying to save money for my 6 month trip, and mini trips in between. My ideology in life is to always aim high believing that it will all fall into place. Yes, aiming high means constantly being let down, failing expectations, what not. But better that then not living to my potential.

I suppose in a few years I will be back in China. God willing. With a business plan in motion. But for now, it will be a nomad, wandering around to the wherever I feel led. Until I return to China, or perhaps Asia in general, this will be my last piece of writing here. I had the time of my life there. And I can’t believe that it’s been 2 months already since I’ve left. That’s 1/3 of the total time I was there :O The highlights in short:

successfully working in China, and biking 10+ miles to get there
becoming a skilled bargainer, for the most part… until the shopkeepers angry faces started getting scary
having some great classmates to push my Chinese beyond where I ever thought it would be
maintaining a rather regular exercise regime despite everyone beforehand telling me running in Beijing would be impossible, which became true when it started freezing
traveling to random parts of China with great friends
regularly being able to attend an International Church, and meeting some of the most amazing people ever
discovering that Beijing has some ridiculously cute coffee shops, contrary to popular belief… I mean my beliefs
getting over how dirty street food is, having diarrhea for like 3 weeks, and then being able to eat whatever I wanted

It really was a grand time. No trip is without its ups and downs but without a doubt, the goods outweigh the bad.

The final set of pictures. (I lost my camera a month before I came back. I assume some Chinese person has it now :C but likely everyone else has cameras and flash drives)

the dish on the right is one of my favorites at one of my favorite restaurant

another really good restaurant. Kro's Nest.

why is food in China so good and so cheap?! take me back! please. Korean BBQ.

went snowboarding for the first time ever in Beijing...

one of my favorite signs. number 11 -- i can relate and so does the saying pride comes before a fall

i naively believed the second time around would be easier....

smoked hookah for the first time.. it's overrated

China came out with a non Disney Mulan. good, but hella Chinese propaganda

@ a Chinese movie theater smushed between my two favorites

China's Christmas spirit is a little weak, but in foreign populated areas they do alright..

our own little christmas party. keke. i think we're pretty cute in red.

homemade festive chocolate chip cookies... took Audrey and I all afternoon to make

I could have seen this lake in Beihai freeze over if I stayed in Beijing a TAD longer..

last trip to my favorite street in Beijing - Nanluoguxiang

and of course the trip is not complete without our favorite desserts

I have some ridiculously cute friends from church who threw Malissa and I a surprise farewell party. It wasn't so much of a surprise, but it's the thought that counts, right? [pictures from that night follow]

Suwen. BFFFFFF. not only an amazing cook, stuffed animal maker, painter, but an amazing friend.

you guys are precious <3

Ah. Reliving sophomore year poker playing frenzy. No party is complete without a game of poker

and some really bad dancing -___- hahha.

My favorite. Best friend! and workout buddy. and a really bad secret keeper

My other favorite!

I seriously do not know how I would have survived without Audrey. BIG HEART.

I hope that my time abroad has made me into a better person, with a bigger world view, a more compassionate heart, a more cultured brain, and everything else good. I hope that the city will continue growing, flourishing... without me (as I know it will), but when I return, I hope that it welcomes me back with loving arms. Because there really is much love in China. With this all said... Peace out… until China sees me again. <3

I'm back in California!

Some Things Never Grow Old

2009-11-20T05:46:00.000-08:00

When I was a little kid, well, even at a not so little age, I used to get sick at least every other month. This occurred throughout high school resulting in me missing many many days of school, which I guess isn’t that bad. These bouts of sickness would also obviously come back every time I was about to go on vacation. Yes, the day before I go somewhere fun, somewhere exciting, somewhere I have been dreaming about for at least a few days… my body would mysteriously decide to pull a sore throat up on me… leaving me at the peak of my sickness during the trip. The last few years, I thought my body had finally matured, finally snapped out of this not so desirable way of getting sick, after all, with age comes… er… more immunities to sickness? Yea, not so much. If you guys recall, Shanghai trip in the summer. No exception to this rule. And this past week: Henan, likewise simply followed along with this stupid rule my body seems to be fond of.

a happy group of people at the beginning of the trip. I was happy too.

That’s not to say I didn’t see some pretty sweet things on the trip. The first day we go off to the Longmen Grottoes. I had no idea what to expect here, and we come to a place with tons of buddhas carved into the side of the mountain.

Many of these things...

Of course I’m thinking… wow these people had WAY too much time on their hands, maybe could have done something a bit more… useful with their time, no?

a wall full of mini Buddhas

so detailed! Gah!

Audrey, Jeff and I are bashing, half-jokingly, these people… when suddenly we come to this:

I’ve seen this before!!! In textbooks! Most likely in my MMW book (shout-out to ERC kids!!!) For all the million of other buddhas they carved, and every single one that we bashed on, this humongous one made it worth it. I’m not sure whether it’s because I’ve seen it in books, or because of the sheer size of the thing (the ear itself is supposed to be larger… taller … stronger… (ok, not stronger) than the average human being. But here I was standing there like a true tourist, gaping at the Big Buddha. Lucky for me, there wasn’t a million other people there. Only a couple hundred…

we couldn't resist, had to sneak behind the rail...

That same day we went to Yuntai Mountain. I admit the scenery here was pretty nice. Waterfalls, caves, bridges, stones, trees, rushing water…

so tranquil...

Yey! with my sick buddy Malissa. :D

Ugh, i look deceptively happy at this point. No, actually i was. It was all so pretty!

human nature really is quite the … scene. At this point in our trip, I already wasn’t feeling too hot. Or maybe better words would be feeling a little too hot. Just a small fever... nothing some walking around wouldn’t take care of… so I thought. After walking for a few hours, and then climbing up stairs for about an hour, and back down, I felt GREAT.

some very steep steps to go up..

and equally steep steps going down (of course they are the same stairs)

and more steep stairs coming down. I love the look of terror on Audrey's face... teheh

At that point I would have been an advocate of exercise to cure sickness. However, a couple hours on a tour bus later, I was dead. Feverish, headaches, chills, coughs, runny/stuffy nose (it couldn’t seem to decide what it wanted to be). Nothing a good nights sleep couldn’t take care of, right? WRONG. The next morning I woke up (after a terrible nights sleep, dreaming the weirdest, most troubling things ever) with the world’s greatest headache, at least in my books. My tour guide comes in, freaks out when she touches my forehead. Her reaction after taking my temperature: 40 degrees Celsius!? We are going to the hospital right now. Running back and forth only a couple times to see different doctors (the hospital situation in china is quite different, and dare I say less efficient and effective), to get my blood tested, I finally escaped the hospital after they gave me shot in the butt, while I sat on a super sketchy wooden chair. Okay, that’s enough details about the hospital, and about this sickness… let’s just says the past week has not been pleasant, lots of time in my room. But I’m doing better, minus the fact that every time I step outside my nose turns into a faucet again. It’s consistently at 0 degrees Celsius here.

our sickness/coldness mask :D

This is very random – and I think of this because I was about to say it’s so cold that I would never want anyone from California to come over here… I’m not sure how I’m surviving this cold, but then … I heard that plane tickets over here are only 650 dollars. ROUND TRIP. Yes. 650. They are usually close to 1000. :D okay, that’s my shameless plug. Plan a trip, I promise to take care of you once you’re here… especially since now I am no longer a working person. So besides school, I am FREE.

Before this random insert I was talking about my trip to Henan. So basically the hospital trip was the last thing that I did in that province. My classmates got to see the city Kaifeng while we were there, supposedly it’s pretty and fun; but all I got to see was the hospital in Kaifeng, which was not pretty nor fun.

Back in Beijing, things have gotten continuously chillier. October 31 was the first time I experienced true cold, as I know it to be. For Halloween, a few friends and I went to an amusement park (Happy Valley) to … torture ourselves … in the cold. It was sort of overrated – too many people, no rides open, there wasn’t even anything slightly scary to help me forget how cold it was. I miss trick-or-treating for sure. But in all… it was alright, got to hang out with some friends, and freeze.

this was at the beginning of the night, before we realized how cold it could be.

of course though, with friends (ellie) the cold becomes... less cold.

Yea, okay, I’ve mentioned cold, freezing, cold, and more freezing a lot. It wasn’t that great. It was so cold… that I froze. Haha. Just kidding… enough. Now in all seriousness, it was so cold that the next day it snowed! For the first time ever, I saw snow fall from the sky, and slowly cover the ground, and the trees, the buildings, in a beautiful white sheet.

For someone who hates cold as much as I do, I surprisingly like snow, especially when it is falling from the sky. Snowball fights, snowmen, snow angels… its all so much fun. If it snowed in San Diego, maybe once in a while, but maintained it’s low of 10 degrees Celsius on other occasions, I would without a doubt argue that San Diego has hands down the best weather. (Yes, I realize that was redundant, but all to say, I would love it)

I was so excited to see snow i ran outside to take a picture of this. exciting i know.

I'm pretty sure this was the snowball Nelson was gonna throw at me...but didn't. Lucky for him.

Our really ugly ... i mean beautiful (of course) snowman named Fredrick.

Anyways, I digressed as usual. Before the weather gets worse, (degree wise, it supposed to maintain constant; but wind speed is supposed to pick up, causing the cold to STING your face), anyways… before the weather got any worse, I’ve finally managed to make it to the Summer Palace. This is probably one of my favored tourist places, maybe because of the sheer size of the place, making all the tourists that were there, seem less, because they were all over the place. It’s such a pretty place though, although the amount of money they must have spent on the place has to be in the … disgusting range. One of the empress, Empress Dowager, took a lot of tax money to redecorate, add to, and what not, this place, just so her ‘summer palace’ could be … like this.

the lake was massive. I've gotten to hang out with Crystal here in Beijing!

entrance to the thing... with a good number of tourists.

He was writing chinese phrases on the ground with water. Pretty sick.

pretty bridge that connects different parts of the place. has wedding spot potential. :p

this Marble boat makes absolutely no sense to me.. really? marble boat?

So as old things go, I still haven’t managed to learn how to be a good college student. I thought last year, I had finally gotten over the procrastinating, waiting till the last minute to study, yada yada, but nope. Most of this was written BEFORE my midterm, and I also managed to churn out a number of emails as well. WHY?! And to make matters worse, I don’t know if any of you guys remember my addiction with watching dramas … end of junior year, but that has come back to haunt me again. Deng it. Lately, it’s been “How I Met Your Mother,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “Glee.” But I guess once I finish them; I’ll stop. Ha. GAH. I need to sign a contract with someone to make me stop. Or at least limit myself. Self-restraint… self-restraint Michelle!

It’s probably not just the dramas though. It doesn’t help that this is my last quarter of college, and I thought I had senioritis spring quarter… but nope. I have senioritis right now. And I have it BAD. I just do things like clubbing, go-carting, working, movie watching, and eating... all instead of studying, researching and paper writing -- which really does need to get done (although I cannot forget that I am an ERC student... and thus 25 page papers do not intimidate me in the least. THAT'S RIGHT independent study project!... :x I mean, I should probably start tomorrow)

go-carting hella gives me a rush. and i get way too competitive. trust me, you don't want to be in my way...

the face can be deceiving... i know ;p

but this is the price I am willing to pay to win. the nastiest bruise up to date.

went to watch the Beijing Marathon. Look at all those old Chinese men going! I'm determined to run another one... soon.

celebrating Ellie's birthday! I caked her good that day :p

happy birthday jason! this night probably didn't help my sickness at all.

hosting a mixer even for work... how fun.

managing to still bike around sometimes. found a sign that says: "love Beijing, ride bikes"

As for future plans, I can’t guarentee there will be another blog in the horizon, I’d like to think I will write one more before America sees my face again, but, as old things go… I don’t know if that’ll happen. General update on my plans: I’ve applied to work at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. If I get that, I’ll be back in Milpitas for a few months before returning to … here.

If not, then thus begins the search for a JOB… anywhere. Suggestions are welcomed.

I really do miss everyone from home, and I can’t wait to see everyone. Till I do, much love.

and this is just because I've been thinking about old things... freshmen year of college with the first roomie: SARA!!!! some things really do never grow old; I still giggle every time I see this picture..

To milestones!

2009-10-06T11:54:00.001-07:00

Happy 60years to China for the coming to power of the CCP and Happy 3 months to my stay in China. (Both of which has passed already. Lame, I know. I did have full intentions though I finishing this before those events passed, but… yea. The thought that counts?)

So, 60 years. Wow, that’s a long time. The more I think about it, the longer it seems. Today my friends and I were just discussing the beginnings of AIM and AOL, all that online chatting junks, and that was only what… 10 / 15 years ago. Technology has come such a far ways since then. But 60 years… the things that have changed. 1949 to 2009. In 1949, World War II had just ended 4 years prior; the Cold War hadn’t begun. In 1949, the United States wasn’t a superpower. In 1949, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 hadn’t been passed yet. This can go on, but all this to say, in 1949, the world was a different place. It’s been 60 years since China was taken over by the Chinese Communist Party, and what an era it has gone through. For arguments sake, it is climbing as an economic power that is recognized internationally for its accomplishments with its rising GDP and whatnot, although I have varying views on this. From the land reforms, to the struggle sessions and Cultural Revolution, to the economic reforms, China without doubt has come quite a distance. Just 20 years ago, the number of foreign students allowed into China numbered somewhere in the hundreds, and now, there is a couple hundred solely at my school. I was studying at a new café today, “The Bridge” (super cute), and coming and going were probably foreigners numbered in the hundreds. It’s crazy how quickly things change. As much as we try to wrap our minds around what 60 years down the line will look like, this will only be done in vain. I’m sure if Mao Zedong was asked in 1949 whether China would be a market socialist economy (where money money money spurs individuals on), he wouldn’t respond out of shock from being asked such a stupid question. Freakish thought, 60 years from now, I am going to be 82 years old. I wonder what the world will be like then. Hahaha. (that was completely off topic) Great… this section has ended up being a very general, vague and non-academic history lesson. Hopefully I didn’t bore anyone to sleep. But anyhow, cheers, to 60 years of … change… in China… and around the world. To modernization!

And now, to my 3 months in China… wow, 3 months seems so short compared to 60 years. 3 months compared to 60 years, 60 years equating to 720 months, 3 / 720 = a very small number. What is wrong with me these days?? I hate math, but everything seems to be waiting, calling out to me, to be calculated. Maybe it’s all the counting months left, the celebrating 60 years for China, being on National Holiday for 8 days (with only 2 left now)… ok, back on track. So its come to by halfway point of studying abroad in China, I say this to point out that there is still potential of returning … eventually. An update on life abroad seems appropriate at a time like this; to reevaluate how I’m doing in Beijing, whether it’s met expectations, whether it has a future in my life, whether I can call it home, etc.

Since my Shanghai trip, I haven’t left Beijing; the life of a working woman. Weh. But being here in one place has allowed me to experience reality here. Not so much the ‘I’m on vacation, let me go here, there, somewhere else, Oh, And there sounds touristy too!’ but rather the ‘ah, let me bike to get food at my favorite café, let me go shop at the area I always hit up, let me go talk to the street vendor that I talk to all the time….’ It’s definitely a different, more… casual… local feel. I guess I can call it home. When it becomes inevitable when I go out that I will get honked at 20 thousand times, get stared at my weird men on their bicycles as I ride alongside them, get talked to in Korean, don’t get stomach aches from eating street food, and this all seems normal. Nothing out of the ordinary to almost be hit by a taxi… every time I take Cherry out for a bike ride, nor that smoking in restaurants, and any other public space is allowed and smokers will blow smoke in your face with no regard to the fact that I hate second hand smoke, nor having to yell out ‘Fuwuyuan’ (service person) loudly in order to order our food or get our checks. I recall the first time I had to do it, I felt so rude… and simply loud. I wanted to respect the service people, let them take care of what they looked busy doing, after all, in America… waiters will come by the table to ask how things are going every once in a while, but alas, I realized, that’s just not the way it works here, waiting for them to come ask me if I am ready… unless I want to be waiting all night … until they close and tell people to get out. So Beijing being called home… meaning, there is still potential for coming back and make this home for another 2 or 3 years post-grad. It’s hitting me hard, the uncertainty of what life will look like come January, when the next step in life will be wherever I feel led to go. There is no more structure that I ought to follow. Where elementary school leads to middle school, then on to high school with sophomore and junior years being time to work hella hard to get into a 4 year university, then enter university and graduate. And GRADUATE. That’s the end, of the dream most suburban families have for their children. Minus the go out and make bank. China has treated me well, has led me to question what I really want in life, whether I’m going to let money be my driving force, whether I really have a heart for helping people and benefiting people simple because that’s just the way it should be. For this, I haven’t ruled out returning … dun dun dunnn.

For 3 months, I have taxied, walked, subway-ed, biked, swam (almost, when it was pouring), ran, around Beijing and at this 3 months mark, I can legitimately point out places that one ought to see. Actually, all tour books will tell you the same thing. But for kicks, because my pictures of these places are just that exciting, and I know you guys are dying to see more pictures…

bikes here are so unreliable..(well, Cherry has been good to me so far)

but always my friend's bikes... in the middle of the randomest places, and we have to ask the randomest people for help. but biking is still the way to go.

Places all tourists must go:

Great Wall – to be standing on something that can be seen and distinguished from space (I honestly think that is one of the coolest things about the Great Wall)

climbing climbing..

after conquering part of the Wall, with our newly acquired shirts

Forbidden City – to see how Emperors lived (rather uncomfortably it seems from the vastness of the place)

one of the many buildings...

places like these slightly bore me, especially when its like 100 degrees out = picture time..

not to say that it's not meaningful and pretty though

Tiananmen Square – to see Mao’s huge portrait

there's the potrait...

National Park (Olympic Stadium)/ Water Cube, (if it so strikes your fancy) – to touch the land the top athletes in the world touched

outside the bird's nest

inside the water cube, after paying 78 kuai to swim in it

Houhai – to experience ‘China’; although arguably it’s been touristized

in the hutong area

rickshaw riding!

at night

Xidan – to feel like you’re not in China, with all the malls...

OOPS, i have failed to take any pictures of this area :x but not missing much, just imagine lots of malls next to each other

well, i guess there's this picture. we biked to xidan...

Wangfujing – to eat some ridicously weird foods and see way to many tourist souvenirs

colors overload

weird weird bugs...

i can't quite remember what this was, but i hella wanted it, but it was MEH

Silk Street – to say you’ve gone, and to have your skin dug into and to get ripped off

ER. no pictures again. my bad. here picture booths and booths of stores selling similar things

Temples – to … I don’t even know… OH. I know. To partake in being a tourist, because truthfully, from my point of view… I feel bad saying it, so I’ll just leave it at that… (but note from the wise :p - don’t go by yourself to these temples, unless you’re really into temples)

Temple of Heaven

... there's always these long pathways that need to another... building...

Bell thing at White Cloud Temple. supposedly if you hit the bell with a coin, you'll have good luck for the rest of the year

but architecture that these places can be interesting ..

And if you are my sort of tourist – NanLuoGu Xiang – to walk around, eat cakes and drink coffee and milkshakes… how non-Eastern.

like always, biking...

these little cafes can honestly compete with the ones in san diego...

one of my first and favorites. bomb banana milkshakes!

what it looks like. tiramisu, cheesecake, browne (thats how its spelled here), and milkshakes!

COME TO BEIJING, VISIT ME, and i'll take you to all the above mentioned places :D

Classes are hard. I’m taking a conversational Chinese, Writing and Reading, Modern Chinese Literature, and TaiChi. Doesn’t sound like much… but trust me, when they are language classes, where studying isn’t done the night before a midterm… 5 weeks after class has started, the time spent and the work required simply to understand and be an average student makes them hard. Being a naturally competitive student that typically isn’t okay with being average doesn’t help. Let’s just say learning Chinese is quite a humbling process.

But, with all the cafes here, studying is not so much of a pain. :p

With each day that passes here, is one day closer to my arrival back in California, but that arrival also means steps towards the unknown, and for that excitement does not come with. Having passed the homesickness phase of being abroad, I must honestly say, (although there is still 2.maybe 7 months left) besides wanting to see familiar faces and familiar places in California, I’m not wanting to leave. But rumor (or common knowledge) has it that wintertime in Beijing is COLD. Homesickness sneaks in the way money seems to sneak out of my wallet. A California girl like me just might not survive the cold. I’ll keep you guys posted as the weather changes…

Interesting fact for this post: These past few days the weather has been exceptionally good in Beijing… beginning suspiciously on Oct. 1^st. Hmm. What does the government have to do with this? They shot some sort of missile into the air to clear out the clouds. Evening of Sept. 30, it poured. Morning of Oct. 1, nice and sunny, perfect day for a parade… these past 6 days… also super nice, mid 70s. Tomorrow. A sudden jump to a high of 59. Oh the things that can be accomplished….

So that's that for now. I completely suck and didn't write for the month of September, but i'll try to make that up and write more... yes. write more.

But for now, Much Love.

From the art district in Beijing.

what i call home.

2009-08-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

It’s official. China is indeed a high stress country. I went to get a massage today, and the masseur touches my shoulders and goes: “Oh God!” She asks me where I’m from, where I reply “America.” “Is America less stressful than China?” “Uh. I’ve been working here for a month now.” “OH.” Every so often I hear another “天啊！”or a “哎呀！” Apparently my back and neck is overly tense, and I could feel knots everywhere. It was gross. Gross. I can’t believe it’s my back. To add to it, since I started working, I’ve already gotten sick, not once but twice. Lets see, I’ve worked for a month. ONE MONTH. That’s being sick about half of the time. And this current sickness I have is a nasty cough that with each cough I can hear my lungs screaming “Save me! Save me!” But nothing I do helps it. I brought this nasty nasty Chinese medicine that you have to drink. Two tubes every time. It’s overly sweet, but somehow manages to taste bitter at the same time. I wouldn’t mind so much if it helped, but, I’ve had 6 already… and I’m still sounding like an old frail woman. Perhaps even a man, ‘cause my voice seems to have lowered a few octaves.

Good god, each of my updates makes me seem like such a wreck. Ha.

Last week, I had my first major spout of homesickness. I just got back from Shanghai and there wasn’t anyone I knew in Beijing because everyone was either traveling or already back in the States. But I had to go to work. Nice and early, I get up. I look outside and its raining, which usually isn’t a big deal. Yea, I don’t necessarily like rain, but rain happens. After some thought I decide I better catch a cab to the subway station. CAB. RAIN. There are those dreaded words again. CAB+RAIN+ME = a very sad me. I walk outside and try to hail a cab, but a few drive right past me. Me thinking, oh no worries, I have 15 minutes extra (it takes 15 minutes to walk to the bus stop to catch a bus, to the subway station). 15 minutes later. Still no cab, after I walked to about 5 different places thinking a cab MUST pick me up here. There’s no other option but to walk, walk the 15 minutes in the rain. Walking in the rain is a bad idea, for someone who is sick, and wants to stay dry, especially in Beijing where cars really don’t care. 10 minutes later, I’m drenched as a huge truck drives straight through a puddle with no thought as to maybe stepping on his brakes, leaving me covered in rainwater, which is synonymous with mud. This would never have happened to me in California. Where not only, it doesn’t rain, but I can be safe inside my car. But I guess being in China is an adventure, and what adventure isn’t filled with being drenched in mud, right? Except a week later, I still have this nasty cough. I’m pretty sure that day, having to sit 8 hours in an office in my half wet clothes did not help speed up my recovery. But back to the point: Homesickness. Needless to say, I wanted to go home.

It’s funny though, how a place so far from ‘home’ at times actually does feel like home.

Like I mentioned, I went to Shanghai for the weekend and…Shanghai. I wish I had more than 3 days there, 2 of which I was rather sick. I can’t pass judgment on that city, I can’t decide if I like it or not. But my impressions of it:

1. Felt like a downtown San Diego or Los Angeles, or maybe even San Francisco.

2. The locals are very arrogant, so much so that I feel bad for them because they seem so unhappy.

The touristy things there, more or less have been checked off my list. The Bund. Nanjing Lu. XinTianDi. People’s Square. YuYuan Garden. The Pearl Tower (from a distance)… Now that I think about it, actually we didn’t do much in Shanghai. I guess the sickness sort of killed it. Or more likely, Shanghai just doesn’t have the touristy -cultural places that Beijing does. Good choice me; to chose Beijing to study abroad at. In this case, Shanghai reminds me of San Francisco, I guess. A famous city, that you name it anywhere, and people know of it; but it has much more of a city feel than a touristy feel – at least for me.

The taxis in Shanghai had touchscreen TVs.

Shanghai Dumplings. Of course.

Nanjing Lu @ night. The huge pedestrian street.

The Oriental Pearl Tower.

Boat ride around the Bund area. Yey.

Yuyuan Garden.

Outside the Site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Yey for seeing SD friends!

appreciate this picture. there was tons of security guards, and signs everywhere saying 'no pictures' but this is where the Communist Party had their first meeting. Mao looks hella young.

shady money business. i am of course an innocent bystander. hostel in Shanghai.

Desserts in Shanghai, just like in Hong Kong. yum.

i don't know what compelled me to run into the middle of this fountain. looked fun. left me soaking.

**ugh. these lines are killing me, but i can't get rid of them :x

everyone thought we were pretty weird. Ha.

but, i guess we are. HAIBO in the background. Mascot for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

lots of construction going on in the city preparing for the Expo.

yumyum cream puffs. i want another one right NOW.

Pretty pretty bank entrance.

Now back to arrogant Shanghainese people – I want to label them citiest – they hate on the non-locals. 2 examples to convince you guys: 1. I needed to find the restroom in a mall, and ask a nice looking sales lady in a, mind you, very polite manner, “你好，请问洗手间在那里啊？” – “Hi, can I ask where the bathroom is?” I not only get no reply, but she turns her head in the other direction. I thought, oh, she must have suddenly realized something she had to do, so I implored again. Only to have her continue looking the other direction, at nothing in particular, just to avoid looking at me and answering my question. UM. Okay. Miss Attitude Sales Lady. 2. We tried to catch a cab, and I have the habit of asking the driver if he can take us to a location before getting in, to not waste his time, and ours. So like always, I first ask, only to not get an answer from him, as I sheepishly climb into the cab. So my friend asks again, and in response we get in a very angry tone: “If you want a ride, hurry up then and just get in!!!!” Yea. Alright, Mr. Angry Taxi Man.

It was thus a huge sigh of relief to return to Beijing. Beijing almost feels like home after traveling to other cities in China ( 2 months is pretty long, with 4 more months to go). Here, I have gotten a waiter who when I asked a geographical question that he didn’t know the answer to, after asking his coworkers who likewise didn’t know, went around the restaurant asking customers if they knew. Or even a business man who kindly dropped me off at a subway station when I told him I intended on walking there (no, I did not just hope into a car with a random stranger… I was off doing delivery for work). It’s nice to be in a place where things are a bit more familiar.

Oh, btw. I went to WangLeeHom's concert. MELT.

he is one talented man. yup.

We sat a bit off in the distance. But it was worth it. Ah. I miss Sarah already!

I finally bought a bike here. And it cost me a bunch of money, but I love her, and keep her in my room so she won’t get stolen. And pay equivalent to 4 cents (which if you add up for a week is enough to buy my breakfast) every day to park her at the subway station as I go off to work. I’ve named her Cherry.

Yea, I know. She’s not red. But I pretend she is. Cuz I went into the store having already decided Red. I was going to get a red bike. When the only red they had was this pink red that didn’t strike me the right way, I ended up having to settle for silver. But never the less, her name is Cherry, and in my mind she is Red. I rode across the city this past weekend. It was pretty sweet. You see a lot more when you’re going 5 miles an hour instead of 30. I’m praying though that I don’t get hit by another bike, a car or even worse a bus, as buses tend to drive into the bike lane. How dangerous is that…or I don’t run into a pedestrian. It’s been a few days now, and so far it’s okay. Not overly eventful has happened, except getting yelled at by a traffic man, but, the fact I couldn’t really understand what he said I was doing wrong didn’t help. I just follow what everyone else does. If they cross, I cross. It’s too complicated and rule-less to figure out myself.

Well, that’s that for now. I’m still stuck in Beijing myself for another 2 weeks before people start coming back from their travels. I’ve been keeping busy by reading. I just started Catch-22, which actually I’ve tried to read before, but found it difficult to get through – but it’s a book I do want to finish. Any other book suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated. I’ve applied for a ½ year membership to borrow books. Help me put that money to use.

And BTW: video chat is my friend. I'm just saying..

yey for sister.

and yey for hs-1 conference! Alick, godspeed in your military service!

Much Love from Beijing to where ever you guys are.

time oh time, where have you gone.

2009-08-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

Time surely does fly… regardless. This not to mean I haven’t been having fun, because yes, the quote usually does end with ‘when having fun,’ which I’ve decided to take out. But recently I’ve discovered, time in general just flies by. In a blink of an eye it has already been 4 weeks since I’ve already lost all my free time. Imagine, in a year or so, this is going to be my life everyday. Wake up, grab something to eat really fast, travel to work, wasting an hour on public transportation, work, travel from work, wasting another hour… only to get home too pooped to do anything but sit and … sit. To those of you working already, I greatly applaud you. I don’t think I’m ready for that lifestyle yet, but then again, when you guys made the transition, I’m sure none of you ran towards it with open arms. Or perhaps it’s just that I haven’t found a job that stimulates my brain the way it needs to be. But either way… future, could you please not come so quickly.

Wow, sorry, this travel, update on my life in China, blog has turned into rantings of a college graduate, a working (almost) college graduate. But alas, that’s what life here has been full of lately. I’m working as a consultant (trainee) at an internship placement company for foreigners. Ironic, huh. Go check it out: www.yourinternshipchina.com. My job there is rather scattered, as I do a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and everything in between. Mostly though, my job is to talk to foreigners, from everywhere, who are interested in our program. Get a sense of what sort of internship they are looking for, and then find them one. It’s a startup, which I like because I can freely voice my opinions, which are often considered, with a pat on my back for thinking so creatively.

In regards then to actual traveling… since work started, traveling has come to almost a complete halt, minus the little mini excursions on the weekends. On a side note, a good friend – Alick, from Taiwan, came to visit a few weeks ago. Friends from elsewhere are always a breath of fresh air in a foreign country where everything everyday is a new adventure. This is to say that if you’re free you should make a trip over to Beijing, and give me a breath of fresh air, or at least a breath of different… familiar… air. That’s the weekend we went to Inner Mongolia. Did the whole horse riding in the grasslands, camel riding in the desert, living in a yurt – Mongolian hut, drinking baijiu – white wine (not your typical white wine, with over 50% alcohol content), eating lamb, and more lamb, watching sunrises and sunsets, thing.

self explanatory.

sunset. sky is so pretty in inner mongolia compared to beijing. night sky was even more amazing.

4:30 am - to watch sunrise with alick. we look like such nerd.

outside our little mongolian hut.

inside our little mongolian hut with new friends

lamb leg for 10 kuai each. yum. i thought i didn't like eating lamb too.

being bored at a temple somewhere in inner mongolia. sarah and alick.

Another good friend, Joanna, from San Diego, came by Beijing a few weeks ago also. Did the whole Forbidden City thing. I have decided I dislike being a tourist, a tourist that needs to fight with the other million tourists to take a picture of a random pot, or throne, or something. I am sure that this pot, or chair has plenty cultural significance, but really… what can a picture of the pot / chair mean. Proof that you saw it for a split second. Proof that you were there. Junks. If something has cultural significance I want to be able to enjoy it, let it sink it, the fact that an emperor used THAT pot, centuries ago. I don’t want one hundred other people shoving me to simply get a picture of it. Perhaps that’s too much to ask for, when the average number of people who go through 5 star tourist attractions in a day range in the millions.

i am turning into a local with my umbrella. with joanna! at forbidden city

details of hall of supreme harmony (i think) ... it has 11 dragons, the most out of any building symbolizing the importance of it; only the emperor's building would have 11 dragons.

everyone fighting to take a picture I failed to take a picture of

With all this said, I think I’m more or less doing the ‘tourist things’ here in China. I’ve done the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and Temple of Heaven. True, I haven’t made it to Summer Palace, nor Lama Temple, but hey, they can wait till the weather cools down a tad. Speaking of weather, here seems ideal to insert my little rant about taxis, and local Chinese citizens. Yes, weather, taxis and locals do indeed relate.

[Insert of my rage straight from the day I wrote it, no editing, just purely as I wrote it that day this ‘event’ occurred]

08/10/09

Attempt to go to the zoo clothing market w/ some girl friends: Left around 4 pm… started raining, so we decide to go eat some food first and wait out the rain…4 30 pm rain lightens so we attempt to catch a cab, so does about 20 other people… we wait and wait and wait… can’t catch one so we walk somewhere else… wait another 10 minutes, still can’t catch one… walk somewhere else… wait another while… rain starts falling harder… finally decide to walk to subway station, which is about 1 km away… rain progressively gets worse… get to subway station, shoe breaks… already pretty wet … take subway w/ a broken shoe to jishuitan… get off and try to catch a cab… don’t have to fight w/ the other 30 thousand ppl also needing a cab… but wrong. Also plenty of ppl outside subway station wanting to catch a cab…. POURING rain… getting soaked… few cabs pass us… other ppl catch them >:O one guy even waves bye to us… as he steals our cab; we decide to start walking… more cabs pass us by w/ FOR HIRE sign up… we wave them down… they look at us, shake their heads and drive by. WTH. we are too wet. No one wants to picks us up. We begin the 20 minute walk back to school, it is now the worse rainfall I’ve ever been in. Shoe won’t even stay on my feet anymore… have to walk barefoot. Continue to wave cabs down. w/out success. Straight up asks a rickshaw to take us to school…. He says ‘no’. by the time we get back. We are soaked. Even my underwear is soaked. Terrible.

Same day:

To Wangfujing to meet Joanna for dinner– ask about 10 cabs if they know how to get to this one street. No one knows. I can’t call jo. I’m already late. I’m still at school when I should be there already. Still no taxi knows… finally decide to take subway… get to subway station. Train comes, I get on… conductor tells everyone to get off. WTH!?

[end insert]

at least they look happy.

but, i most definitely am not, as my shoe is broken. Zoom into left foot, it's missing a strap :C

To make that day even worse, the day before that, I went out with some friends at night, and on the way back we tried to catch a cab. It took about half an hour till it was obviously our turn to catch the cab, and an empty cab came around. We hail it down, hella excited to have FINALLY gotten a cab. I go to open the door, and from behind me I hear footsteps, and suddenly a girl runs up, opens the front door and sits down. I was so pissed. I just got jacked. Her boyfriend sheepishly comes up from behind after I had slammed the door out of rage and gets in. Another taxi pulls up, and this other guy jacks it from us again. This time, I screamed, or more like sighed… or maybe more like rawred very loudly. The guy was about to give up his taxi for us, but luckily another taxi came. I’ve learned 2 things from this: 1. Guys are 20,000 times nicer than girls. 2. China is making me meaner. I hope I don’t come back to America a monster.

So yes, weather, taxis, and locals. I can’t wait till fall when it cools down. I’m hoping people will just be more pleasant in general.

So, that in a very small nutshell is my update. I was really craving cheesecake the other day. I finally got my fix...

i miss desserts. they are so hard to find here. Fanny.

but when there's a will, there's a way. :D Audrey

It’s almost 5am here now, and my writing is making less and less sense even to me, thus the random insert about cheesecake.... I should definitely be sleeping, but the adrenaline rush that I get after I go clubbing hasn’t worn off.

at Vics. with Winter, Audrey, and Fanny.

But tomorrow morning is the summer language program’s graduation ceremony, and after that: Shanghai. I’m going for the weekend. AH. Shanghai. I’m excited. Let’s hope I like the city.

Much Love.

Looking Asian in Asia.

2009-07-28T05:32:00.000-07:00

I can’t decide whether this is a good or bad thing.

The Pros:

1. You get the local prices for goods (or at least the more local price). For example, the starting price of a tee-shirt might be 40 kuai instead of the ridiculous 90 kuai. Either way though you can bargain it down to 15 kuai.

2. You don’t get the shop owners all tugging at your sleeve, waving pictures of bags and shoving shoes in your face trying to get you to buy it for prices I consider unreasonable even in America.

The Cons:

1. You don’t get the attention one deserves as a foreigner. This sounds bad, but as a foreigner, a visitor to this country, I expect to be treated somehow differently than the local people, as other Americans are treated. Case in point, when I go out with some white friends to eat, the owners always speak slower, and try to help them out more or less. Me on the other hand, I’m supposed to be able to keep up with their Chinese speaking speed (which is about 10 times faster than mine).

2. When I tell someone I’m from America, I always get, “No, you can’t be America.” – Um, excuse me, I think I know what I am, and yes I am indeed American. So I’ve decided for most occasions, I am not American, but rather Hong Kong-nian. This has suited me rather well, for the most part; expect that I’m often mistaken for Korean. Nothing new I guess. The other day I went to a store that was owned by a Korean guy, and I asked the price of something in Chinese. He responded in Korean, which of course resulted in me giving him a very confused look and a “huhhh??” He should figure I don’t speak Korean, but he proceeds with all these words… which leave me even more confused, as I can only say ‘i’m hungry’, ‘I’m full’, ‘thank you’, and ‘that guy is cute’ in Korean. Finally another girl in the store tells him, “I think you should speak Chinese.” – That’s the story for the day.

Two Pros to Two Cons. I can’t decide.

One more story – The other night I went clubbing and was trying to explain to the taxi driver where we needed to be. In Taiwan, clubs are called 夜店. (meaning night shop, I guess) I figured they should be called the same thing here. The taxi driver sort of paused, gave me a shocked look. I realized he must have thought we wanted to go to brothel. Shoot. So I quickly said nonono. I mean we want to go to the place you dance. Opps.

I made a one-hour trip today to this café called “the Bookworm”. Back in San Diego, as most of you are probably aware, I had a little obsession with coffee shops and just sitting, studying, reading, journaling, etc. there. It’s taken me almost a month to find time to do that. But this weekend, I’ve decided after three weeks of doing touristy things in Beijing, traveling around, studying Chinese, and successfully finding an internship, it’s time for me to simply breathe and do things I miss doing back in America. Hm. I guess this might be homesickness kicking in. Although I must say, I’m not necessarily homesick (this not to mean I don’t miss friends from home), just a bit exhausted, and feeling a tad introverted.

This café is rather cute; it’s a restaurant/library/bookstore/event hall – reminds me of everything America minus the all Chinese staff.

This doesn’t really constitute as an update on life here in Beijing- Just a ramble of thoughts and such. Next time, I’ll put up a mass of pictures. But for now, much, much love.

surprise, surprise. I do like China.

2009-07-03T00:09:00.001-07:00

I've been itching to write, I really have. (Funny too, because I've never really liked writing)But But after asking many other international students, who sadly don't seem to really care about their restricted Internet access, I have finally figured a way around it. Victory! Well, okay, I didn't figure it out myself. Ray, if you're reading this, here's your little shout-out: You're awesome! From now on you're my go to guy for Internet help. :P Anyways, as its been a while since I've been able to write, I have by now composed so many tidbits of writing, some in my journal, some in Word, and some just floating around in my head. Some extremely critical, which I will leave unsaid, and some more personal matters, which I will also leave unsaid.

It's been a while since I've first got here, well, really only 2 weeks, but it feels like a lot longer, but trying to recall my first impression of China, I think it was 'Maybe all my talk about moving over here (for a while) won't just be talk. I could see this as a reality. My reality.' Yes, of course the weather here isn't quite like San Diego, nor any part of California I've ever been to, with the exception of Davis perhaps. The weather here is hot and ... dry. Not humid at all like Hong Kong, as I had anticipated. But it's been manageable. Of course I hate how at the end of the day I have a layer of grime on my skin, and my hair feels as if I hadn't washed it for a few days, but in defense of Beijing, it is summer time here. The people here are also surprisingly more friendly than I had expected. Most of the time they are rather intrigued by the fact that I more or less look like them, but I have such poor Chinese, and an obviously not local accent. I don't think the feeling of being frustrated will ever grow old for me though. Maybe until I've lived here for 10 years, and can read all the menus at restaurants and can converse comfortably with anyone I want, I will continue to feel extremely inadequate in this city where I constantly feel as if I'm slowing the city down with my incompetence, but then again, I'm not that important.

Because I've slacked in writing, (technically the ability to do so was beyond my power), I've sum up my last 2 weeks here with things I've done in 4 little points.

1. The National Stadium, and the Water Cube. Home of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Standing there made me feel powerful. Imagine, just a year ago, the world's best athletes stood on the same field, sat in the same seats, swam in the same pool a I did.

The highlight of this little outing. I actually got to swim in the WaterCube -- in the practice / warm-up pool of ... Michael Phelps!

We hella got ripped off though. Apparently you need swimming caps to swim there, and needless to say, we were not prepared enough to have brought our own.

We had to by them outside for 40 kuai (equivalent to around 5 dollars), when back at the school, they sell them for 10 kuai (~2 dollars) and probably outside if we bargained for it, 7 kuai (1 dollar). But as an EAP alumni wisely told me, if you don't get ripped off, you haven't gone out enough.

2. Eating a lot of unhealthy, super oily, street foods that always leave my stomach upset the next day.

I should have learned by now, but street food always manages to look appetizing enough for me to buy a whole meal for 3 kuai (~40 cents). Yes, food here really can be that cheap.

There is also an abundance of watermelon here. Almost every intersection, at each street corner is a stand that sells very juicy, but also very seed-y watermelons.

I've also tried the famous Peking duck, and sadly have to admit, it tastes the same as peking duck back in Milpitas.

3. I'm slowly mastering... no, mastering isn't the right word... I'm slowly learning the skill of bargaining. And I throughly enjoy it. It's very satisfying to know that I got something for the price I wanted it for, not the price I was given. The first few times, I felt very offended when I gave my price (obviously too low) and was told 'get lost,' or 'are you crazy?!' But these are all simply part of their vocabulary, where they try and sucker people like me, to fall for the 'I feel bad, okay, I'll buy it for that price' trick.

4. Touristy cultural dense places: The Great Wall of China,

which makes me think of the Great Firewall of China, culprit of my inability to blog or log into Facebook, and Tiananmen Square. Chinese history is no doubt very rich.

And the last time I came to China, I did indeed visit both of these places.

Yet, what is a 12 year old supposed to know about Chinese history. However, this time, standing amongst the crowds, climbing up the Wall, left me feeling a deep sense of cultural heritage. The portion of the Wall I visited - Badaling - was built sometime during the 14th century, and as Wikipedia tells me, is visited by millions of tourists each year. Tiananmen Square, let me just say, is a place that sparked my interest in Chinese history. I'll leave it at that for this blog.

5. In typical Michelle fashion, I always feel the need to exercise wherever I go. The air here, with the pollution, has surprisingly been decent to run in, late at night. It was exactly one month after my marathon since I started running again, and it felt great. It also seems that I'm always one of the only girl there to exercise. I've seen a handful of girls wearing dresses and heels to walk around the track in...

I've also been trying to practice the Asian hacky sack feather foot kicking thing. I have no clue what it's called. But you kick it around with your foot.

I went to the track area with some American friends the other day, and as it was the first time we've played we were terrible, and made lots of noise in English. Quite a crowd gathered around, watching from a distance, but obviously watching, so I thought I'd ask them to join. Funny enough, the moment I asked, everyone pretended to be busy with their own exercise. Sadly, only one guy would play with us. But from now on, I've decided I'm going to use that feather foot kicking thing to become friends with the local Chinese students.

So that in a nutshell has been my past 2 weeks. Wow. this was long.

And here's a story just because: The other day in class the teacher was trying to explain the phrase: 逆反心理。 From her explanation, I got something along the lines of 'kids doing what their parent's don't want them to do,' so I wrote that in my notebook. My classmates, looks over at my paper, and writes 'rebellious??' Oh yea. rebellious was the word I was looking for. I knew there had to be a shorter way to describe 'kids doing what their parent's don't want them to do.' My English is rapidly deteriorating.

I'm going to Inner Mongolia tomorrow with a few friends. I'm pretty excited, but I haven't a clue what to expect. But if no one hears from me in a week... I'm probably lost somewhere in Inner Mongolia. Perhaps two weeks from now, be a tad concerned. Much love.

oh Hong Kong, it's been a while.

2009-06-25T19:01:00.001-07:00

I made it. After a 13 hour flight, which amazingly I slept through about half of, plus a stressful 2 hours at the airport, then at my hotel (which won’t let me check in because its too early), here I am in Hong Kong. I guess my adventure really starts here, not in 2 days when I get on another plane and head over to Beijing. It’s only been a few hours, and already I remember certain aspects of Chinese culture I do not miss. I almost got run over by a baggage carrying cart here, by a airport escort, too eager to assist foreign looking visitors, which unfortunately did not include me. I was redirected 3 times at the airport, to a different counter each time in order to find a bus to get to my hotel. People!! Don't sound so confident when you tell me where to go, if you don't know yourself! You can simply tell me you don’t know; something to do with ‘saving face,’ perhaps.

The air here is so thick, and the moment I stepped off the airplane, onto the runway, I realized, I seem to only have remembered the good parts about Asia. Which is strange, because I remember telling people why I was happy to return to America 1.5 years ago. But maybe it was the excitement, the itching for adventure, traveling again, being able to come back, that drowned out the fact that I dislike the densely populated… everywhere, the humidity, and other aspects that now as I’m back I’m beginning to recall.

Internet is also impossible to get here (hence the scatteredness of this blog – 5 minutes here, 8 minutes there…). I’m sitting at Starbucks for the second day to take advantage of their 20-minute free wireless. I can’t wait to be at school in Beijing, where there’ll be internet access, I think. Hopefully the Great Firewall of China will allow me to keep writing. Until then though, much love, from Hong Kong. Beijing, Here I come.

It's been a blur, but it's happening.

2009-06-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

你好朋友！ and for those of you who don't read Chinese...

'hi friends!'

The days are drawing near, too near if you ask me. I've already said my goodbyes to San Diego, a terribly sad day that was, and soon enough, I'm going to have to say goodbye to California, and goodbye to America. I know, I know, a tad dramatic, after all I've been abroad twice already, but for some reason, this time feels... different. Maybe it's the six month, longer than any other abroad trip I've done, which from past experience (these last 2 quarters) I know will fly by, or maybe it's not knowing a single soul in Beijing, OR maybe it's going to the country where I feel like I am supposed to be at. I don't know what it is about China, but I feel drawn to it, and the anticipation has been building up inside of me... all year. And this had combined into a strange mixture of excitement and ... dread perhaps. Saying goodbye to America won't be easy, saying goodbye to San Diego was difficult enough. Yet, the adventures in China awaits me, and excited or not, I'm leaving... in 5 days. I'm returning to Hong Kong for 2 days, the place that dare I say, turned me fob after 4 months, and then off to my newest escapade: Beijing China. I have my visa, my clothes and belongings are scattered around my room as I try to not make the same mistake I made when I packed for Hong Kong (overpacking). In a few days I'll be ready as I'll ever be. But don't worry, my airplane ticket is roundtrip (for those of you who think I'm never coming back), I'll be back in 6 months, but until then, I'll try and remain a faithful blogger and keep you guys updated on my adventures. much love, currently from milpitas.