A Week in Mianyang

So not much has really happened in the last week...

We went to hot pot as a group last monday night...

From left: Martha, Al, Ricki, Josh, Margaux, Liya (english teacher), and Jason (english teacher)

Wednesday night we went out for karaoke, which is always fun.

Thursday we had to go to the police station to register as foreigners, which took forever and was so disorganized, of course. Then in the afternoon I had to help interview host families for us to stay with. My job was to assess the student's english (all the families had students who are studying here at the palace). Some of them were really shy and awkward and some of them could barely speak english. But also some of them were great.

We recently discovered some new restaurants on street nearby so we've been eating pretty well, lots of dumplings, noodles (not what you think of chinese noodles though, they're all made from different kinds), etc.

Thursday after dinner we went on a hunt for this british bar we had heard about just to check it out. After some time wandering, we found it. We ended up having a beer with the owner, who was totally weird. He's married to a chinese woman and has lived in China for 8 years, but doesn't speak chinese or eat chinese food. He has a driver to avoid interacting with people at all costs. but seems to be doing pretty well here in china of course. When I asked him what his favorite place in china was, he couldn't give me answer, not because of how great china is, but because he doesn't particularly like anywhere. typical foreign snob. but we'll still probably go back for drinks on our own at some point, haha.

Friday our internet was down so of course we all freaked out. I finished a great book called the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. You should all read it. I loved it. Friday night a new foreigner came, Jean-Raphael. He's french and very nice. So now there are 4 girls and 3 boys; 4 americans, 2 british, and 1 french. It's a nice mix, haha.

Saturday I spent the afternoon taking a practice GRE. I’m planning on taking it in August so I have to study while I’m here. L There’s a graduate program through John Hopkins in Nanjing, China that I want to apply for, in case you were wondering. But anyways, I improved a lot on that already so that was encouraging. Saturday night we bought some wine and played cards in our room. And of course watched some sex and the city, which we do everyday, at least twice a day, haha.

Initially when we arrived, we were upset because we only have Mondays off, but we had been promised “weekends” off. So after a lot of drama, we have been granted a “second” day off whenever we want, which we’ve basically decided will be Sundays. So we had Sunday off and wanted to go to Li Bai’s home in Jiangyou. Li Bai is an ancient Tang dynasty poet. He’s basically the Shakespeare of China. And we studied him in class a lot so I actually get him. My favorite expression I learned relating to Li Bai is 只要功夫神，铁杵摸成针, which means “If you persist, you can grind an iron rod into a needle”. So it’s about sticking with it and persisting until something is accomplished. Apparently it’s also slang for masturbation. But anyways, we had to back by 4pm because that’s when were being picked up by our homestay families. We needed to get a train to Jiangyou so we hopped on a bus to the train station. Once we got there, we were confronted by a huge confusing board with lots of characters and numbers, from which I deduced that there were only 2 trains and we couldn’t go on Sunday. So instead we walked around the train station area and go some lunch. We’ve been looking for a good fake DVD shop for awhile but still haven’t found one. We did find a shop with a few things so everyone was happy about that. Then we came back to the palace.

At 4 pm our families came to get us. I knew all the kids already because I had interviewed them. I ended up with my favorite girl Eva.

She’s 13 and speaks English extremely well. Her cousin also hung out with us the whole time because she’s studying English too. She’s 15. First we took a taxi to Eva’s family’s curtains shop, which turned out to be right next to the train station. The shop was nice. Then the uncle drove us to their apartment, which was on the outskirts of town. It was much more calm and peaceful and not as polluted where they lived. Their apartment overlooked the river, which was pretty despite the fact that the river is brown and has trash floating in it. Then we walked to a nearby market where farmers from the countryside come to sell their food. We got some delicious noodles called “Liang Pi”. The noodles are served cold with some veggies in them, a bit of soy sauce and spicy sauce. I don’t think the noodles are made from wheat (or whatever noodles are usually made from), maybe they’re from rice, if that exists? Anyways, delicious. Then I walked around a park with Eva and her cousin. Then I met her parents, aunts and uncles, and a grandmother for hot pot, which seems to be the thing to do with guests, as this is my 3^rd hot pot meal in 2 weeks since arriving in China. They ordered some gross stuff, like cow liver. And they kept serving it to me so I had to eat it. And it was sooooo spicy. I thought I was going to throw up from the amount of food and the spice. But I didn’t, thank god. Then we went home, watched some TV, and played cards. My host family gave me a nightgown to sleep in, which was actually pretty cute. Then they gave me water so I could wash my feet, which was actually really nice. I think we should do this in the US too. No one likes going to bed with dirty feet.

Then next morning they wanted me to get up at 6:30am! That’s normal for them because Eva usually has school, and if it’s summertime, she has to study. (In response to the following questions, she said “she’s not allowed because she has to study”- Do you have a boyfriend? Do you drink beer? (I know she’s 13, I forgot, haha) Do you like karaoke? (which EVERYONE likes)). I had a hot shower, which was amazing, but maybe strange because half way through, Eva asked me if I was using the hot water. If you have hot water, why wouldn’t you use it? Oh well, they didn’t say anything else about it. Then we had breakfast which was hard-boiled eggs, baozi (stuffed steamed buns), bread, shredded potatoes stir-fried in a spicy sauce, and some eggs soaked in something, but were actually pretty good. Then we went to Eva’s mother’s hometown, which was a really small farming village. It was great to get to see the countryside, which I’ve never really experienced. We picked watermelons and lots of other vegetables to bring back to our house and had them for lunch. J and the family in the village that we were at cut up watermelon for us to eat (a big deal in china). And then we picked pears off a tree, peeled them, and ate them on the spot. Pretty awesome. 

Cow and I in the countryside

Our chosen watermelon. And my host cousin.

fields after fields, so beautiful

My host Great Aunt. She's like 70, and carrying corn on her back in a basket. 

the biggest home in the village, aka they're rich. I think they have electricity and running water, but I wasn't sure. This is my host mom's house when she was a child. 

random people in the village. I'm probably the first white person they're ever seen. 

Then we went home and made dumplings, which I've been wanting to do foreverrrrrr. 

Then we ate lunch, which were not the dumplings (we had those for dinner- yummmm!). Instead, we had chicken soup (so the whole chicken- feet, bones, etc. all in the soup), rabbit (mostly bones) with some potatoes (which I ate), some shredded pork dish with these nasty bitter veggies, and eggplant (which was ok but then it got cold and was gross). After a short nap, we set out for Beichuan, which was a small village hit particularly hard by the earthquake in 2008. 

Information about the Earthquake

Beichuan was a poor village and not built particularly well, which is partly while it suffered so much during the earthquake. It is also surrounded by beautiful and tall mountains (up to 22,000 ft), which further isolated it. During the earthquake, there were numerous rock and mud slides, which killed people who managed to escape the crashing buildings. And by rocks, I mean boulders the size of a small house rolled down into the village. And an entire river was rerouted by the Earthquake, which flooded part of the town and contributed to the mud slides. The original town of Beichuan was too damaged to rebuild, so it was relocated about 15 km away out of the valley (During the earthquake, many supplies and rescue workers couldn't get to the village because they were in the valley. There also weren't able to communicate with the outside world for about 72 hrs after). The old town of Beichuan has been preserved as a memorial for the 70,000 people who died (total, not just in Beichuan), making it the 21st most deadly earthquake in history. So we walked around the town and looked at the damage. It was really sad, but also morbidly interesting. 

a flooded office building

apartments

the river on the other side of a mountain got diverted by the earthquake and now runs through a tunnel that used to be for cars. This bridge broke during the earthquake so now it's just a waterfall. 

A school. The earthquake hit at 2:28pm. All the kids were napping when it happened. 107 people died here. 

The info about the school above

rock slide

This is a mass grave where people were buried. It's also a memorial. 

Then we left the town because it was raining so hard. We got lost on the way back and it took 2.5 hrs. But we got to drive through the mountains, which are amazingly beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice, especially with the fog. At some point in my life, I want to come back and hike here (Lucas?!). They're extremely rugged and sharp. 

This is the China you see in the movies. 

When we finally got home, we ate our delicious dumplings. By saying how much I liked them, I was then fed another 6 after already eating 8! So I was EXTREMELY full after that. Then I came back here to the palace. 

This morning I had class, during which I showed a powerpoint I made about my life. I have pictures of my family and friends, and my school. The highlight was of course my dogs. But they said everyone was beautiful and very cute and that we are all rich. haha. So congrats if you were in that ppt. 

Classes have been better because now we're seeing the same students again. But still not that rewarding or challenging. Still getting along great with my friends here. Last week I met a girl in the park who invited me to join her for a dinner with her friends where they practice english, so maybe we'll go to that. 

I'm planning on going to Hong Kong this weekend, but it's been so complicated. They're afraid I'll get hurt or something and they'll be held responsible. So basically I gave up asking permission and I'm just going to go. They won't notice. But I also still haven't been able to buy my ticket. I'm going this afternoon so hopefully that works out. In Hong Kong, I'm staying with my best friend Natalie and her family (LOVE THE NIELSENSSSSS!!!!!) and hopefully seeing my roommate from Shanghai, Katie. 

No other plans for the week! Congratulations if you made it to the bottom of this! :)

My host mom and I 

My host cousin and I 

Eva and I 

A Day out with Lila

So things have gotten a bit better I guess. We all know what to expect now. Classes yesterday were much better. Then we went out for dinner and found a little Baozi (steamed bun/dumpling) place. The cash register lady got really mad at us for taking forever to order and it made me nervous. But then there was a really nice lady who showed us how to eat everything and stuff, she was great.

Today we had our first day off, yay! Lila, one of the english teachers at our school, and her friend Cecilia, also an english teacher, took us out around Mianyang. They helped Martha buy a phone, and we walked along the river.

From left: Cecilia, Martha, Ricky, Margaux, Al, and I

From left: Cecilia, Me, and Lila

At the Park again
From left: Martha, Margaux, Me, Ricky, Cecilia, and Al

Then we had a delicious lunch of giant baozi, jiaozi (dumplings), spicy noodles with beef, spicy wood ear mushrooms, and spicy bok choy. Everything here is spicy and it's deliciousssssss.

The cooks at work

Then we went to Fule Mountain (which means Wealth and Happiness Mountain. Typical). It was really pretty and had some different architecture than from other parts of China.

The stairs leading up to the mountain

At the entrance to a temple

Josh and I at the Temple

The Mianyang Group at the top of Fule Mountain

Then we came back to the apt to rest. Then we went out for dinner to a Hot Pot restaurant with two of the teachers. The director of the school or the english department (not sure which?) was supposed to come but was busy playing mahjong so she didn't show up. To which I say, you don't want to come to dinner? I won't work on Sundays. So there.

Start teaching again tomorrow! yippee! not...

unfortunately nothing very patriotic happened today, except maybe singing "Star Spangled Banner" on our hike up Fule Mt....

Miss you guys!

Children's Palace, or Volunteer Prison? Pictures from Mianyang!

There's really no way to describe where we're staying without seeing it....

Our Bedroom (plus Margaux)

My closet

Our desk (plus Al on the left and Josh on the right)

My toiletries

PRISON aka our hallway. All the windows are barred.

Our nasty bathroom (plus Martha on the left and Ricky on the right)

Squat Toilets. No doors

Ricky demonstrating the toilet

Our Communal Shower

Pretty horrific huh?

Here are some highlights from the last few days:

our sad dinner at the airport on our way to Mianyang

Bumper Cars at a carnival we found

A Park along the River
From left: Me, Martha, Josh, Al

The River (really dirty, but still pretty)
From left: Martha, Ricky, Josh, Al

Happy Fourth of July!

Welcome to Mian Yang

So the last few days have been orientation and fun stuff...On Tuesday we had a quick half hr intro into the program (and that's about all the info we have, typical chinese style- don't tell you anything until it's too late, haha) Then we all went for lunch but accidentally went to this place that was kinda expensive and only served crayfish. So we got 3 giant plates of crayfish. To extract the minute amount of meat inside their tails, we had to break off the head and the rest of the body, break off the pincers, and then snap their backs in half to get to the pinky finger nail-sized meat, which actually tasted pretty good! Needless to say, we got pretty hungry later in the day. I think this was quite an adventure for a lot of the people on my trip, many of whom have never been to china before and don't know chinese. Anyways, then we went sightseeing as part of the program and went to Lujiazui, which is the financial district where the tallest buildings in Shanghai are located, as well as the Pearl Tower (I didn't take any pictures because I already have a million from my previous trips so just go back to early september posts if you want to see what they look like). Then we took a ferry to the Puxi side (east of the  Huang Pu river), where the rest of Shanghai is located. The ferry was cool because I'd never taken it and there were a ton of boats on the river. Then we walked to People's Square, where my friend Vicky and I got a crepe like thing with noodles inside, yummy! We walked through the underground markets (in the subway station area) and then went back to our apartment.

Wesnesday we started off the day with a mandarin lesson, which was not that useful for me considering I'm not a beginner. Although I did forget how to write a lot of characters so the review was nice. Then we did more sightseeing in the afternoon (after a not-as-adventurous lunch). We went to YuYuan (Jade Garden), but didn't actually go in because we didn't have time, which was weird. But we walked around that area which has a lot of traditional chinese goods made for tourists. The buildings there are all in traditional style so it was cool just walking around. I also had my first near-death experience in China, but no worries, I’m still alive. Anyways, we were getting on the subway but then the doors closed on me! And they didn’t open up when they started squishing me! It was so scary! So ya, then I pushed through and got on the train safely, but we left a friend behind at the station! Haha. Then we had a program dinner at a hot pot restaurant (a place where you cook the food at your table in a pot of boiling broth), but it was sooooo hot cuz all the steam kept blowing on our faces. But yummy as always. 

Then I met up with my friend Jurie from my program last year. She's here doing a financial consulting (i think) internship. I brought a few of my new friendsies along and we met at 100 Century Avenue, one of our fav bars at the top of the World Financial Center in Lujiazui. Wednesdays are ladies night there and they have free champagne for ladies until 10:30! so that was awesomeeeee! But it was kind of sad not being there with all my friends from my program from last fall. :( But seeing Jurie was amazing!!!! Then we went to Zapata's, another bar that we like that offers free margaritas for ladies on wednesdays until midnight. so that was also great! And it was really fun bonding with my new friends! yay! 

Thursday morning we had a calligraphy lesson, that started an hr early cuz they felt like it? weirdddd. but whatever, so china. Had a quick noodle lunch and then more mandarin lessons which was super annoying and frustrating. They decided to split the groups up differently so I was grouped with people who had never taken mandarin before. I felt so bad for them cuz they were so lost and confused. I was mostly bored. Then I went to dinner with my Chinese teacher QQ from last year! It was sooo nice to see her again and speak Chinese and catch up and stuff. She helped me come up with an idea for my Chinese senior project too, it was so nice. J

Friday (yesterday) we went to Yuyuan on our own with one of Martha (new friend)’s friend and he showed us a famous dumpling house that I hadn’t been to before and then we walked around some. My friend wanted to buy a jade bracelet so I asked the woman at a jewelry shop if she sold jade. But she didn’t understand. I was pronouncing the word “yu” wrong so instead of jade, I said “Do you have any fish? Fish? Like Fish as in Fish Garden” (because YuYuan means Jade Garden). Haha.

Then we left for the airport. At the airport, I had to walk to like 5 different counters to figure out where to buy my ticket, because my program didn’t tell me I had to buy my own ticket from Shanghai to Mian Yang. Then I had to check-in, but because I had overweight baggage, I had to go to another counter to pay for them, where I had to wait almost 20 minutes for the lady to stop yelling at the airline worker. Then I went back to the check-in counter, got my boarding pass and went to security, where they told me something was wrong. Then I realized I had someone else’s boarding pass, so again back to the check-in counter to switch them out. Once through security, I met up with my friends and tried to find something to eat for dinner, but there was nothing. We asked the airline stewardess if there would be food on the plane and she said no. So we bought random chips and muffins and things and that was dinner. But nobody was next to me on the plane so that was nice! And then they served us more plane food so I did end up having dinner. Haha

Then we were met by Leila and Jason, two English teachers from the Children’s Palace, where we’re staying. We got in 2 taxis to go there, but for some reason all the taxis don’t have trunk space. So we balanced on bags on the edge of the trunk and tied them on with string (and by we, I mean the taxi driver). It was very precarious but our bags made it ok. We got into our room, which was much nicer than expected. Unfortunately they thought our friend Erica was Eric, and thus was a boy, so there weren’t enough beds in our room for us 4 girls. So Martha and I shared a bed that night.

The “mattresses” are basically wooden boards with a thin piece of fabric over them. The first night I spent tossing and turning because my hips would go numb from the wood mattress or my arm would loose feeling or something. The four girls share a room and the two boys share a room. We have air-conditioning in the room and a desk with two computers. One has internet but it doesn’t really work that well and won’t let us onto our gmail accounts. Plus we can’t look at facebook or post to blogs from that computer because they’re blocked. There are no shelves or wardrobes for us so we’ve laid everything out on the floor or on the top bunk of our extra bed. The best part is the bathroom situation. There is one bathroom on the floor that is “ours” but during the day, other people use it. There are a bunch of sinks, some of which don’t work, and other leak water on the floor when you turn them on. The showers are just a raised area in the bathroom enclosed by a shower curtain. But each shower isn’t enclosed so it’s a communal shower. Awesome. The girls have all been showering together because we have no other choice, haha. And the actual BEST part are the toilets. We have 4 squat toilets. Ok, I’ve dealt with squat toilets, no big deal. I can handle this. But they are not enclosed. The toilets are divided by 3 feet high walls, with no doors. So anyone walking around the bathroom can watch you going. GRRRRRROOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. So that’s been an experience. Oh ya, and we only have hot water from 6-9pm. Welcome to Mian Yang Children’s Palace.

Saturday was our first day teaching, but we didn’t know that and thought we were observing and getting settled in. They said we could sleep in, but around 8am we started hearing high pitched Chinese children’s voices singing and Beijing Opera (which is also quite painful to listen to). Turns out our room was right above the auditorium where the children were performing. It’s the last two days of the spring term so there were performances from 8am-8pm. The Opera was coming from outside in the park where old Chinese ladies were doing tai chi. After our cold shower, we decided to wonder around the school. We were told we should not leave the school because they were afraid we’d get lost and that we “don’t speak Chinese” (even though I said I’d studied for 3 years…). We ended up teaching two classes that morning before noon. Teaching basically consists of us walking into a room, where the children are running around screaming, total chaos, while cartoons are playing on the screen. After about 10 minutes, we start “teaching”. I introduce myself, they don’t understand “My name is…” so I translate it. Then we play games like, charades, hangman, duck duck goose, red light green light, etc. In no way is this “teaching”. We’re just here playing games with the kids. Their English is pretty horrendous. They can’t even pronounce the alphabet correctly. We’re in different classes every day with different students and all the teachers want us to do is play games with them so it’s not like we can actually teach and build on anything. Some classes have computers with large screens for the kids to see, some don’t. We don’t have internet access on our own computers so we can’t prepare anything. Most of the kids are cute at least. The younger ones aren’t afraid of you so they talk to you, but they don’t speak English hardly at all. All they know are animals and other basic nouns. I can barely understand their Chinese because they mumble and slur their words, but I’ve been trying to communicate with them. The teachers also help translate back and forth, but their English isn’t very good either so it’s no wonder this kids aren’t learning anything.

During our lunch break on Saturday, we escaped the palace! (Our meals are provided by the school cafeteria, which is pretty gross, just like a cafeteria in any other country). We’re starting to think of it more as a prison, than a palace. There are bars on our windows and we aren’t supposed to leave. Haha. So we explored for a few hours and found an amusement park. We played on the bumper cars. Then we bought a guitar between the 6 of us and at the end, we’re going to give it to the school. We came back and taught 2 more classes on Saturday, for a total of 4. They got mad at us for leaving the palace alone. We had more nasty slop for dinner. Then we went shopping for some basic stuff for our room and a sim card with one of the English teachers. The sim card shops were closed so we still don’t have one. They made us write out a list so that they knew what we needed but of course we saw more things we wanted once we got there. Our teacher was confused and mad because we weren’t following her around, but she wasn’t letting us buy the stuff we wanted so we had to escape again. Then I went to pay and they told me my 100RMB bill was fake (that’s about $15USD). Great. Then we went back to our room and watched princess bride. Actually great. J

Also, we were told we would have weekends off, which usually means Saturday and Sunday, right? But instead we only have 1 day off, Mondays. We’re asking for Sundays off too (and probably will take that day off no matter what they say). I had also planned to visit a bunch of my friends all over China, but now I don’t think I can. I’m planning to just take a weekend off and be like “see you, I’m leaving so deal with it”. We’ll see how that goes…but I’m a volunteer, so what are they going to do, tell me I can’t play games with their students anymore? Get real.

So none of us are particularly pleased with the situation right now, but our spirits were lifted today when they finally set up internet in our room. YAY!!!!!! The problem was that we were told certain things by our program based in Shanghai, but they were not communicated to the staff in Mian yang (weekends, homestays, leaving the “palace”, etc.) But we’ll see how things go. We’re here now so we’ll just make the best of it. Apparently we’re only staying here for 4 weeks. I’m scheduled to stay for 5 weeks (other kids are staying for 3 months!) so none us know what’s going to happen after 4 weeks. Adventure! Haha.

Fourth of July is tomorrow, and I’m sad we won’t be able to celebrate, but at least Monday is our day off! Maybe we’ll go see the pandas!

Happy Almost Birthday America! Eat lots of hamburgers and set off fireworks for me please! Miss you!

I'm back!

I’m back! My blog that is. And I’m back in China, woo! So you can follow me for the next 6 weeks (assuming I can continue to get internet and use blocked sites such as blogger, haha). I am spending my first few days in Shanghai, then moving to Mian Yang in Sichuan province to teach English at a Summer School/Camp.

I arrived this morning after two flights (Marseille to Paris, then Paris to Shanghai). On my last leg, the flight was 3 hours late. And I got DOWNGRADED. Did you know they can even do that?! So annoying. Didn’t sleep very much, but whatever.

Then I met someone from the program and another girl on the program and we all took the airport bus, then a taxi, to our “flat” (as all the British and Europeans call it). It’s pretty nice but we’re all sharing rooms (so not as nice as the one I had last time I was here). We had a quick tour around the area that we’re, which is different from where I was before. Now I’m in the southwest of Shanghai (whereas before I was in the Northern part of Shanghai).

I went out for dinner with a bunch of people who were already here. We had delicious spicy green beans, and dumplings and more! Yum yum!

Orientation is happening for the next 3 days, combined with sightseeing (mostly likely places I’ve already been) and some beginner mandarin lessons, which should be funny for me. The Chinese has been coming back to me well, yay! I’m also trying to meet up with Jurie from my semester abroad last year and QQ my Chinese teacher from last semester so hopefully that works out!

That’s it for now! J

再见中国！(Goodbye China) I miss you already!

So I know this is heartbreaking news, but this is the final post. :(

After birthday weekend craziness, we all had to buckle down and finish up the semester, which for me meant two presentations, 4 papers, and 2 final exams. Luckily I was able to take a break last Tuesday and went shopping (cuz of a last minute internship meeting cancellation). I bought some great marc by marc fakes, but realized later that marc by marc doesn't make these styles (I won't tell you what they are so you won't know me you see me, haha) Then more work...

My chinese teacher's birthday was on Wednesday so after class (which consisted of us running around Shanghai in traditional chinese wear and my friend diggory wearing a gauze beard all in the name of filming the greatest chinese final project video ever) we treated her to Thai food, which she had never had before. We also bought her a stuffed panda bear and a captain america cellphone charm. (the cellphone charm- dunno if that's what you call it- is a big thing in china. everyone has them. Mine is Haibao, the mascot of the expo) She was very excited. Appartently people don't really give gifts once you're not a kid anymore so this was a big deal. And most of her friends and family aren't in Shanghai so this was the biggest birthday celebration she had ever had. She also gave me some pink earmuffs for my birthday the previous week, very sweet. Thursday night we went to KTV (karaoke) with her and we all learned a special chinese song to sing. It was fun, but exhausting.

Friday night we went out to celebrate my friend Kamya's birthday and kinda of mine for those who weren't with me the previous weekend. Unforuntately, I got sick on friday (food poisoning I think) so I wasn't feeling to up to partying. But in true Julia Nethero style, I rallied and was still able to go dancing until 2am. :) Then Magnolia and I had a sleepover and pretended my apartment was the Vassar library (oh sweet vassar, how I miss you). more studying and sickness...Wednesday I finished my last exam (chinese). :) oh ya, and wednesday is snowed! I didn't expect anything to accumulate cuz it was still pretty hot outside (as in like 40 degrees), but it did so Shanghai was white for a few days!

Wednesday night I went out to dinner with Helena, Magnolia's host mom. She's soooo sweet. We went to hotpot (boiling soup/broth that you cook food in and then dip in delicious make-your-own sauce), where I had gone with my parents, but we definitely did not get the whole experience last time. This time when we arrived, I got a hand exfoliation/parafin wax massage. It was great. Then I got my boots polished. Magnolia and Helena got their glasses cleaned. Then we had dinner, which was delicious. Afterwards I got my nails done and chose a very chinese design- red with sparkles. :) Magnolia got strawberries.

Thursday I had a final internship lunch with my supervisor Bright. Then I spent the rest of the day writing subtitles for our movie. It was pretty fun translating because we had said lots of ridiculous things that don't translate very well- example: "He who strikes first gains the advantage." "You must suffer to enjoy the joys of life" "You must quietly immerse yourself in your studies", etc. These are all chinese chengyus (expressions) They all have stories or deep chinese cultural meanings. And everytime you say them, chinese people get excited and clap. It's great. and surprisingly, these situations come up a lot in daily life (so if I randomly say something like that to you, just smile and know that I'm not crazy, it's just china)

Thursday night was our graduation dinner. I was the MC with my friend Diggory. We all (well the cool people anyway) decided to wear qipaos (traditional chinese dresses) and silk robes for the guys to the dinner as a celebration of culture/advertising for our excellent movie. Because I had been working on the movie all day and we barely finished, I was very frazzled and left all of my gifts for people in my room. so stupid. anyways, Every class had to do a final presentation so those were really fun to watch. Most people did songs or short plays. We did a 20 min long movie. I didn't think it was going to be that funny to other people, but it was. and of course the chinese people loved it. And it got a lot of face for our chinese teacher (can you say that in english? boosted her reputation...) cuz of our great chengyus. It was also inception themed, complete with the main character spinning his totem in the last scene with inception music in the background. and the chinese people got it! yay! We also got our semester books, which are like yearbooks from the semester. Good times...

Friday, We took our teacher to one last lunch (we really loved her obviously. seriously, the greatest chinese teacher EVER!!!!! she was so good at helping us understand things, explained everything well, was reasonable with the work and stuff that she assigned, and was a great person overall. also was understanding with our ridiculous jokes and americanness) at din tai feng, great dumpling restaurant. I "Iced" Magnolia there. It was great. Then in true foreigner style, we went to haagen dazs, which I hadn't done in china yet. That's where you take someone when your relationship is getting serious. It's more like a lounge, complete with couches and wine. very expensive too (relatively). We ordered there holiday special, chocolate fondue with ice, fruit, and cookies. yum yum yum! Then I went shopping one last time (which I regretted yesterday when I was packing).

Went out wednesday night to helens, and again on thursday, to helens. after the graduation dinner, we all went to helens with our chinese teachers and our language partners (my chinese gets much better with a few drinks, or at least I think so). We taught them how to take tequila shots and talked about american history. haha. Friday night we also went out for a last hooray to windows. It was pretty sad cuz some people were leaving early so that was the last time we'd see them. Luckily we were there for happy hour (1-2am) so that cheered everyone up a bit.

Yesterday (saturday) we went to a final lunch (minus Jay, already gone, sadness) at hunan (our fav restaurant, maybe in all of shanghai). It was pretty sad. Then I had to start saying more goodbyes. finished packing, which was pretty rough. By the end, I had already broken and fixed one zipper and was sweating. They wanted me to repack one of my bags at the airport yesterday and seriously almost cried cuz they didnt understand that it probably wouldn't zip again. I don't quite know how I did it...Got a final cocos bubble tea and sushi roll, closed up my room, and left my home of 4 months. :(

waited at the airport for awhile to check in, then watched sex and the city (I had all 7 seasons now, hehe) at the lounge, shed a few tears for china on the way onto the plane (but quickly realized I looked like a crazy person crying by myself so I sucked it up) and flew to seoul. When I arrived at 12:30am last night everything was closed. Luckily this is greatest airport ever and they have a rest area with giant reclining chairs where I slept for about 5 hours.

I am currently sitting in lounge enjoying my free breakfast and looking out onto the tarmac (great view...not). Think I'm going to get a massage in a little bit. It isn't light outside yet, which is weird considering its almost 7:45am. My flight is at 10am, so I'm almost done with this epic layover. then 13 hours to america!!!

so that's it.

5 semesters of college, done. study abroad done. china gone. but I know I'll be back. After you go once (and you're one of those china freaks, which I am), you always come back. Probably after graduation I guess- fulbright please?! Even though some things were annoying and drove me crazy, I am used to it now. The idea of leaving china is pretty sad. As my friend Ben so eloquently put it, you can't say whatever you want in America in public because people speak english. "Like Fart" seriously, if you're ever in a foreign country where they mostly don't speak english, just yell "Fart" on the subway. It's absolutely hilarious. I will probably be a bit racist upon my return since everyone in china is (mostly because they just haven't seen people who look different from them, not necessarily hating them). I don't know if I'll remember how to drive. If I make awkward grunting noises around you, don't get freaked out, it's just what you do here. And most of all, I'm going to miss my new amazing friends from the program! We all go to different schools so it's a kinda hard to see each other again, but we're going to do it. We all shared such crazy experiences, both good and bad, together so we have a really special bond. I love you guys!!!!

But I am looking forward to having toilet paper and hand soap provided for you in the bathrooms. And not to have people staring at me all the time (although I'm def going to miss people telling me how beautiful I am all the time). And not to see babies peeing on the street and people spitting everywhere. And the food, I'm pretty much done with chinese food for awhile, especially since I got sick last week. First stops in America: Chick-fil-a, Waffle House, My own kitchen, Mexican food, a liquor store (just so I can use my 21 yr old ID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate GA's blue laws, I arrive on sunday), the mall (where clothes will actually be merchandised and I don't have to buy XXLs).

So I think that's really it this time. Thanks to those of you who cared enough to read this whole thing all semester. And for those people who didn't, don't ask me how china was cuz I already wrote it here (just read it please). haha.

I love you China. See you again soon!

Julia, signing off....

Birthday Madness in Nanjing!!

So after mom and dad left shanghai, I had lots of work to do and it was sad cuz I wasn't eating expensive meals and enjoying the peninsula spa, haha. but then thursday we left for nanjing and my birthday weekend extravaganza! :)

when we got on the train, magnolia brought out two bottles of champagne! (very hard to find in china) it was super cute! And she had fruit to put in it and homemade me guacamole cuz it's one of my favs. soooo adorable! and I love christmas (duh) and I also love oreos so I get really excited every year when they christmas ones come out and she found them! basically, we had a very fun train ride. Then we had a lot of trouble getting to and checking into the hotel, super annoying. but it worked out in the end. We went to a bar called talking and got some drinks and dinner. We met some foreign students (british and canadian mostly) at the bar and they recommended a bunch of places to go for the weekend so that was nice.

Friday morning we got some food at a bakery for breakfast and then took the subway. Instead of tickets, they just had these little plastic tokens. It was weird. haha. We went to Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum, which was up this mountain/hill in the middle of the city. It was really pretty at the top. lots of fun.

in front of the mausoleum

the view of the city/the hill from the top of the mausoleum

oh ya, btw. so there's this drink called a smirnoff ice. It's technically a "malt beverage" i think, but it's basically a really really weak (like 4.5%) mixed drink with vodka and fruity flavors. and they're really girly. there's a game that a lot of college age kids play where you "ice" people. basically you make them find it without them knowing and then when they find it, they have to chug it while on one knee. This happened to me about 8 times in two days. the first time was at the mausoleum. My friend Jay goes "I don't like holding my fleece in photos" and hands it to me and inside is the smirnoff ice.

me being "Iced"

after the mausoleum, a few of us went to the lake and got snacks and then magnolia and I rode a boat. it was really cute.

me driving the boat, two speeds: forward and backward

we had decided to make friday night the big birthday night, so we went to a really nice/cute french restaurant for dinner. I had foie gras, escargots, steak, and chocolate fondant. yum! And Magnolia knew how much I love wearing crowns on my birthday so she found a birthday girl cinderella crown and fake pearls to wear. It was great. And Alex had tried to get me an ice cream cake from DQ but they didn't have any cakes so instead she got me an oreo blizzard (my fav). It was really sweet. Then we went to talking bar again and the bar people brought me cake and a shot. Everyone kept buying me drinks/shots and taking my picture and the chinese men behind us kept giving me roasted garlic on a stick. haha. Then we karaoked and it was epic, as usual.

Saturday, MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOO!!!!!!!!!! I got iced immediately upon waking up and had to drink it in the shower. pretty funny. We went to lunch and got burgers and crepes. I got iced again there. And my friend Sup accidentally found the ice that was planted for me, haha. then we went to a confucius temple and old town area. It was pretty typical in my opinion.

me banging the gong at the temple

We went to mcdonalds to get a drink there and magnolia asked them to give me something special cuz it was my birthday. They said that was only for children but they'd announce my birthday on the intercom. So when they did, I stood up and waved to everyone. haha. Then they played different versions of happy birthday for like 10 mins. Then we went home and napped for a bit, then took a group boat ride on the lake. It was fun cuz the lights were all lit up around it. Chinese people love lights. They do them pretty well. Then we went to a teppanyaki japanese all you can eat and drink dinner (like hibachi, with the big grill and stuff). We got a private room cuz there were a lot of us. balloons were tied to my chair. It was delicious!!! lots of sushi, grilled food, sake shots. We got our chef really really drunk with the sake. haha. It was pretty epic. Then we met up with our nanjing local friends and went to a few bars and clubs. very fun. (lots more ice-ing happened all night)

Today, we went to the rape of nanjing (big massacre commited by the japanese during WWII) memorial, or so we thought. We only saw things about how the "KMT reactionaries murdered the good communists" during the chinese civil war. haha. pretty interesting.

me at the memorial hall with a balloon I was forced to tie to me all day. It's haibao, the shanghai expo mascot. he's everywhere.

then trained home. got iced again on the train. not happy about that one. haha. two more weeks left in china! and that means this blog will die too. so sad! :( we have lots of papers and presentations and exams in the next week or so, but then we have like 2/3 days to chill out and have fun before we have to leave! Ready to go home but also really going to miss china and all my new friends! I love you guys!