大家好, I haven’t written in a long time! I’m sorry about that. I’m not going to make excuses, BUT time here goes twice as fast as it does in the USA. I mean, I only have 2 months left! That is crazy! I’m slightly in denial, because I don’t want this part of my life to end. My exchange student friends and I have all just gotten so much closer, but suddenly we only have 2 months to be together. I have to admit, I don’t like thinking about it. I had a stress dream last night, more like a nightmare, where time went so fast that I woke up on the day I had to leave and I still hadn’t packed, and then I kept forgetting everything. Packing is going to be hard, but I already have a bag of clothes separated that I am going to throw away, and last weekend I gave away most of my books to my German friend... so we'll see what happens.
While I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to my friends and Chinese family, I have begun to look forward to summer vacation. How can I not? On top of seeing my friends and family again, I get to be with my aunt, uncle, and babies for a good part of the summer, which I am SO looking forward to, and I get to spend a week with my grandma and cousins. I am also looking forward to being able to visit my grandma and grandpa whenever I want to. And a call out to the Napa Valley community, I am open for babysitting this summer! In a bit I will have flyers up at Stone Bridge School with details and such. Also don’t hesitate to email me at [email protected].
While I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to my friends and Chinese family, I have begun to look forward to summer vacation. How can I not? On top of seeing my friends and family again, I get to be with my aunt, uncle, and babies for a good part of the summer, which I am SO looking forward to, and I get to spend a week with my grandma and cousins. I am also looking forward to being able to visit my grandma and grandpa whenever I want to. And a call out to the Napa Valley community, I am open for babysitting this summer! In a bit I will have flyers up at Stone Bridge School with details and such. Also don’t hesitate to email me at [email protected].
Well a couple of weeks ago I went to Shanghai. One of my best friends at Justin-Siena HS’s dad works part time in Shanghai, and he and my friend’s two younger sisters were going to be there around Easter, so he generously invited me to join them. On Saturday I rushed to the train station and after asking about 5 different people where the heck I was supposed to go, I found my train just as it was about to leave. The train stations here are huge! I mean the one in Nanjing is bigger than the entire Sacramento Airport! On Sunday we went to mass, only to leave 10 minutes after it started because the priest spent his time preaching to us about how we were bad if we didn’t go to church every week. Oops.
Then we went to eat the most wonderful brunch. It was half Western, half Chinese, and it was super good! After brunch we took the metro to Nanjing Street. The metro system in Shanghai is huge! They have 13 lines (!), which is a huge step up from the 2 lines we have in Nanjing. My German friend did tell me that they are building 4 new lines here in Nanjing, in preparation for the Youth Olympic Games, but still, 13 is a whole ton of lines. When we got to Nanjing Street it was packed! So many people go there to shop, and there were so many foreigners. I love seeing foreigners, which must sound like a really weird thing to say, but trust me, if you spend a year in a city where everybody has the same color hair and is approximately the same height, you will feel the same way. Close to the end of Nanjing Street is Forever 21! It was nice to go into a western clothes store after so many Chinese rip-off markets, but I didn’t buy anything because it was super expensive, and all the lines to try stuff on were a mile long.
If you follow Nanjing Street all the way to the end you eventually get to the Huangpu river to an area called the Bund. Across from the river are old renaissance looking buildings, which are very beautiful. We went to a café that was on the roof of one of these buildings, where we could see the river and the famous pearl tower. I felt so rich, on top of a building with a bunch of foreigners, literally sitting on a fancy four-posted canopy bed. After this we went back to our apartments.
On Monday and Tuesday, my friend's two sisters and I went out to do some shopping. As they have never been to China before, we went to many Chinese rip-off markets. This is a place where you can find all the name brands for things that you want, but most of the stuff is fake. Here I got to really perfect my haggling. I know I still have a lot of work to do in this important area, but I got a shirt, some high heels, and a bracelet all at pretty good prices. I still have to learn how to walk in the high heels though… oh well. By the end of Tuesday I was very done with shopping, like maybe for forever. We have a lot of the same stores in Nanjing, and my opinion about Chinese rip- off markets is that once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. So Wednesday the girls went shopping again and I decided to venture out on my own and find the part of Shanghai called the French Concession. I did find it, with a little game I like to call: Follow the Foreigner. Not in a creepy way of course. To play this game you simply look for other foreigners on the street and follow the flow. They lead you to the usual touristy locations. The French Concession was really pretty, with lots of little tiny shops and restaurants. I found a restaurant that reminded me of Norman Rose Tavern in Downtown Napa, and so I got an expensive milkshake. It was SO worth the money.
On Thursday I headed home. It was really a great trip, I liked seeing Shanghai so that I can compare it to Nanjing. What I know now is that I really like Nanjing. It is the perfect size for me, not nearly as overwhelming as Shanghai, and not nearly as many people.
Since I have started school again, I don’t have much free time. My day goes like this: 5:30am wake up, go to school till 5pm. Study all day. 5-6:30 I go to the gym to get some exercise, and don’t get home until 7pm. Eat dinner, practice volleyball outside, look at potential colleges online, 10:30pm go to bed. By Friday I am completely exhausted. My favorite day of the week is definitely Sunday (surprised?). On Sunday I get to play volleyball with all of my foreign friends. It is so, so, so fun. Volleyball allows me to vent all my stress and anger, and to hit something super hard! It also allows me to talk my own language! Definitely the best day of the week.
You might be wondering to yourselves, what do I do when I get stressed or homesick? Well I do have some super good remedies, which cure me right up. If I am feeling stressed after a long day, on my walk home I listen to what I like to call, My Power Ballads. These weird and random songs make me feel a little like superman. I have two right now. My first is Hold On, by Wilson Phillips, and the second is 我爱你中国, which is a Chinese song called I Love You China. Because I love China, sometimes I just need the song to remind me if I’m a little bent out of shape. My second remedy is to watch a movie or TV show. This is probably not the best way to cure stress, but honestly you can never go wrong with I Love Lucy. I LOVE I Love Lucy! The last thing I do if I am feeling stressed, or like a failure, is to go and actually practice speaking Chinese. This one is mostly for when I feel guilty about being quiet the whole day, but it tends to work. I think that every exchange student has different ways to make themselves feel most at home. One of my best friends goes on his roof where he can see the whole city. Speaking of which, I have yet to go on an apartment roof, which I really want to do. I think it would be cool on one of mine, because I could probably see a birds-eye view of the Olympic Stadium. Some days I get people-sick, which is something that I had not experienced before I came to China. In a city with 8 million people, it's hard to find solitude, and sometimes I really miss being able to actually see a mountain, or lean against a tree that doesn’t look like it might blow over in a storm, or lay in some lusciously green grass. I love grass. I actually have found a few peaceful spots in my busy city. They are a little out of my way though, but trust me, nothing looks more amazing than a mountain after 8 months of buildings. Heck, even a large hill will do it for me, especially if it's got plants that weren’t human-planted on it...
And now I will say 晚安,because it is time for me to actually go to bed, as I have math class at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Maybe next post I will tell you all the date I am coming home ;)
And now I will say 晚安,because it is time for me to actually go to bed, as I have math class at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Maybe next post I will tell you all the date I am coming home ;)