Soccer game at the Olympic Stadium
~你们好! Yesterday I actually had a club sandwich at the "foreigners" restaurant after volleyball. It was so nice to have some food that wasn't Chinese. I wish that place was closer to my house, because it's an hour away, and so can I only go when I am already over in that area of the city. I went with my friends from volleyball, Brian and Kellen. I'm pretty sure they are both 24, or at lease close to that. They are super nice! I never see them except on Sundays, with an exception of when I went to a soccer game last Saturday. It was quite amazing! There were over 65,000 people there, and it was at the Olympic Stadium. It was huge, and so loud. They only had 2 doors open (stupidly enough) for about 70,000 people to get through. It was a huge mad rush to get in. I literally thought I was going to be trampled, or at least squished to death. I have never been so squished in my life. And of course people stared at me so much! I was almost laughing hysterically at the end of the night every time someone stared at me. To be honest, it really drives me crazy sometimes, almost to the point of insanity! And some guy when we were leaving kept saying my name, but I didn't know him, so that was weird.
Attendance #'s
The game was... soccer. Not much action, just a whole lot of running around. But because the stands were packed with avid fans, every time they got even remotely close to making a goal, it was like a huge Chinese bomb went off and you had to plug your ears because everyone was screaming. It was a pretty great experience. I almost didn't know if I was going to be able to make it to the game because I was so tired that day. If you knew me, you would know that I never take naps. I think they are a waste of the day! However, I was so tired on Saturday that I sat on my bed and accidentally fell asleep for an hour. I wanted to sleep for forever, but I decided that this Soccer Game in China was a once in a lifetime thing, so I went, and it was worth it!
Well I actually wrote most of this post in my journal in school at lunch, before I typed it up at home. When I was only about a paragraph into it my hand hurt so bad from having to writing in cursive. I am sort of getting used to just writing quick little lines of the Chinese characters, so writing sustained cursive makes me feel like my hand might fall off. Above is a paragraph I recently wrote about my school in America. My Chinese friends loved reading it, and were like: "So good!" So that made me feel good.
On another "good" note, I got to skype with my parents and Fifi on Saturday! It was super fun. But, they ate my favorite dinner right in front of me: home-made ravioli with butter-sage sauce! Ahh, it looked so amazing. Then I got a Skype-tour of the house, which looked a lot different through a computer camera. Fifi's room was as messy as it ever was!
School last week went quickly, all 9 class, 10 hour days. Thank goodness it goes fast, or I might start falling asleep on the metro....
...So I guess I will tell you all a little bit more about my host family. My mom is super great. She is an English teacher and teaches at our house in the afternoons and some evenings. I think all of her students really like her, especially the little 2nd graders who are SO incredibly loud. It's pretty much impossible to hear your music or really even your own thoughts when they are around. She says that they keep her young. My dad I don't know as much about because we don't really understand each other (yet). I do know that he is super sweet and nice, and I think that he works for one of the biggest telecommunication companies in China, called 华为(Huawei) technologies. I think that's pretty cool. My host sister is Susan. She is very nice also. We get along very well. I definitely see the "only child" side of her though, as she is used to getting everything she wants and asks for. That is not a bad thing; I still love her a lot. You can always tell her mood though because when she is happy she always talks a ton, and when she is sad or tired she doesn't talk at all. A lot of of the time Susan doesn't come with us to eat, and so it is just the 3 of us. My mom and dad are a very sweet and happy couple, I think. I never see them being physically lovey dovey, like kissing, but they are always laughing and joking with each other, and they spend a lot of time just enjoying each others company. I really like going out to dinner with just them because they are very fun, and my mom and I get along really well, especially when she is mad at Susan (haha).
Another random thing...When I get off the metro on Sunday nights there is always this huge crowd of people dancing. And it is not like the normal cluster of women doing dancing/exercises all together. It is a huge crowd of people who come and just grab a partner! I think it is pretty cool. They should do some more random dancing in the USA.
Some of the new Chinglish I have seen is "Protect me from the fashion system,"and "Test your justice off!" There was also one great shirt I saw that just had the F word spelled wrong, in huge sparkly letters. I'm always on the look out for MISTAKES! Ah, they make my day.
Well Wednesday is Halloween, and to my surprise, the mall here is actually decorated for it! Just like in Target back at home, there are signs hanging from the ceiling, and random fake pumpkins everywhere in the shoes and clothes racks. It is funny to see people so eager to take pictures with the fake pumpkins. It's hard not to think about other holidays and Christmas. I think I will skip school on Christmas. But don't worry, I told my teacher I'm skipping, so it's all good.
On another "good" note, I got to skype with my parents and Fifi on Saturday! It was super fun. But, they ate my favorite dinner right in front of me: home-made ravioli with butter-sage sauce! Ahh, it looked so amazing. Then I got a Skype-tour of the house, which looked a lot different through a computer camera. Fifi's room was as messy as it ever was!
School last week went quickly, all 9 class, 10 hour days. Thank goodness it goes fast, or I might start falling asleep on the metro....
...So I guess I will tell you all a little bit more about my host family. My mom is super great. She is an English teacher and teaches at our house in the afternoons and some evenings. I think all of her students really like her, especially the little 2nd graders who are SO incredibly loud. It's pretty much impossible to hear your music or really even your own thoughts when they are around. She says that they keep her young. My dad I don't know as much about because we don't really understand each other (yet). I do know that he is super sweet and nice, and I think that he works for one of the biggest telecommunication companies in China, called 华为(Huawei) technologies. I think that's pretty cool. My host sister is Susan. She is very nice also. We get along very well. I definitely see the "only child" side of her though, as she is used to getting everything she wants and asks for. That is not a bad thing; I still love her a lot. You can always tell her mood though because when she is happy she always talks a ton, and when she is sad or tired she doesn't talk at all. A lot of of the time Susan doesn't come with us to eat, and so it is just the 3 of us. My mom and dad are a very sweet and happy couple, I think. I never see them being physically lovey dovey, like kissing, but they are always laughing and joking with each other, and they spend a lot of time just enjoying each others company. I really like going out to dinner with just them because they are very fun, and my mom and I get along really well, especially when she is mad at Susan (haha).
Another random thing...When I get off the metro on Sunday nights there is always this huge crowd of people dancing. And it is not like the normal cluster of women doing dancing/exercises all together. It is a huge crowd of people who come and just grab a partner! I think it is pretty cool. They should do some more random dancing in the USA.
Some of the new Chinglish I have seen is "Protect me from the fashion system,"and "Test your justice off!" There was also one great shirt I saw that just had the F word spelled wrong, in huge sparkly letters. I'm always on the look out for MISTAKES! Ah, they make my day.
Well Wednesday is Halloween, and to my surprise, the mall here is actually decorated for it! Just like in Target back at home, there are signs hanging from the ceiling, and random fake pumpkins everywhere in the shoes and clothes racks. It is funny to see people so eager to take pictures with the fake pumpkins. It's hard not to think about other holidays and Christmas. I think I will skip school on Christmas. But don't worry, I told my teacher I'm skipping, so it's all good.
I love leaving school when it is dark outside and raining, because then everything is lit up, and the rain on the ground reflects all of the colors. It is kind of beautiful. There is this one intersection with HUGE TV screens on the buildings that have bright colorful ads playing all the time, and that combined with the brightly colored and shiny rain ponchos on all of the bikers and motor-scooter people, creates a huge, colorful light show--but on the ground. And last Sunday night I was walking back from volleyball to the metro station when, suddenly, huge fireworks started going off right above me and falling. These were just like the fireworks we used to watch back at home, when we were camped out way far away from the explosions. But this was happening in between two tall buildings, next to a busy road flooded with people. It was so loud! But also pretty.
A note about the pictures that I posted. There are a couple of the soccer game (above), or as I now say out of habit: "football." At one point during that game they showed how many people people had bought tickets and were at the stadium. Now mind you, about 5,000 people were there without tickets, because it was so crazy they didn't even bother checking them! One picture is of a blurry Olympic Stadium all lit up for the game.
A note about the pictures that I posted. There are a couple of the soccer game (above), or as I now say out of habit: "football." At one point during that game they showed how many people people had bought tickets and were at the stadium. Now mind you, about 5,000 people were there without tickets, because it was so crazy they didn't even bother checking them! One picture is of a blurry Olympic Stadium all lit up for the game.
You will also note that there is one of me with a tiny hamster. I am unhappy to report that it is now dead! Who knew? We don't know why it died. My family was keeping it for a friend of Susan's who lived at school and who could not have pets in his room. But he didn't buy anything for it, and it eventually it just stopped eating. Idk, some Chinese folks don't seem to be that animal-smart. I mean, I said to Susan, "Doesn't it need a little water?" And she didn't think so! I bet that's why it died. It was denied fresh water!
Click on picture to see larger...
Well moving on, the other shot is of a shirt I bought myself. You may remember me saying that I bought a shirt for my sister, Fifi, that makes no sense. Well, I bought one for myself too! It's different though, so she doesn't see her's until she it arrives back in the States. Go ahead and try to make one ounce of sense out of it! Good luck, you will need it. Most of the words don't even exist.
Be well!
Love,
India~
Be well!
Love,
India~