Ridiculousness seen at the gym

1. Woman with jeans (and belt) jogging on the treadmill.
2. Man with (fake?) crocs on the treadmill (walking when I noticed him).
3. An approximately 8 year old kid (in crocs) walking on the treadmill, watching cartoons.
4. A guy with flip-flops in the free weight area
5. A guy toting around a milk based nutrient drink (I suppose it could have been refilled with water, but I doubt the Chinese would do that).

Also, not ridiculously but excitingly, I heard Bond being played in the gym! The first one was Explosion (I think) and the second was Viva. Sadly... they kept on getting chopped up (as if it were a scratched CD), and I think they both got cut short. (If you've never heard bond, they're an electrical string quartet. Please go look up their music! Some is based off of classical works (like Viva off of Vivaldi's Winter).

Also, I have to say that the Chinese seem to prefer lower pound weights. I'm occasionally in competition for the lowest ones (being weak myself >.<) like the 5 and 7.5. But I see 12.5, 15, and 20's used fairly often. I find it funny that the scale is in kg, the treadmills are in kmph, but the weights are in lbs. I had a moment of excitement where I thought I was lifting 7.5 kg. Oh well.

In general it's a very nice gym, and it looks very impressive when you first walk into the main room that's filled with treadmills. Unfortunately, it's lacking a good area for core/floor workouts. There is a room with mats, but it's almost always full of people in a class, so I've never been able to use it. There is a small area with mats and free space, but it's reserved for people with personal trainers, so we got kicked out of it. : /

Also... it's kind of filthy. I refuse to use the weight machines because there are no bottles with towels (I'm spoiled by Ratner, perhaps). There are people who occasionally make rounds and wipe things off, but there's no way to ensure that they do that right before you use them. It's kind of nasty to see sweat on the bench you want to use... I've seen some of the naval academy kids doing ab work/push ups on the floor... but that's pretty filthy too. If I touch my knee to the ground, it can come back black >.< So I've pretty much limited myself to the treadmill and free weights. Oh well?

The po-po

Got accosted by undercover cops as we were leaving for frisbee. >.<

The first thing we notice is that there is a guy filming us. Most of us don't worry, and one of the guys flips off the camera. I think they, like me, assume is for some frisbee documentary, or some other documentary.

Nope.

I'm not sure why they chose us, but they were apparently trying to catch us talking about paying the van driver. And were (possibly) trying to trick us into saying it too? The guy with the camera was trying to pretend he wasn't a cop. They checked the driver's registration, and since they don't have a special license, they're not allowed to drive us around for money. We told them that we were all a group of friends that hung out and played frisbee, drivers included, so they drove us for free. They had no proof otherwise (I'm not entirely sure they were legally allowed to film us. One of the girls flipped out about that), so they let us go.

Ugh. Cops. I think (hope) it's just side effect pre-nationals day heightened security.

I took some shots of them :P

(w/e my blog is banned here anyway) It's the guy in the white polo and the guy in the black t-shirt:




Anyway. I sort of got the promised shot of the mini dense suburb. A bad shot (through the van window):

More frisbee shots up on picasa.

Also--saw the ATM in our school being emptied this morning. This guy walks in with a black plastic rolling thing, flanked by two army guys in camo and those hard hats carrying old looking... rifles? or something that didn't look automatic and better for clubbing people on the head with than shooting (they were like.. wood and metal, not all black metal). Still, if they were real and loaded, that would still be impressive.

crazy fun... is crazy

Spent a lot of time out this weekend. A majority of which was between the hours of 12 and 5am. >.< There are two main bar/club places (that I've been to so far). Wudaokou is on the (north)west side near qinghua and a bunch of universities. Supposedly the crowd is younger there. Sanlitun is on the east and may be a little more lively (and older), but I haven't been around enough, or paying enough attention, to really know. Shots from Sanlitun:

These are from the "bar street" where most of the clubs are.



The last one is of Babyface, a nearby club we walked by while searching for jianbing (a street food). The other is a shot of a line of taxis (recognizable by the glowing light over the roof)



All in all, lots of fun. Made frisbee on the second day lots of fun too. :P

Some photos

My favorite chocolates :) from my grandparents. I <3 my grandparents.

Chinese medicine. For a cold/sore throat. I think. You poke a hole in the foil top with the white pointy thing (if you can see it in the packaging with the straws) and stick the thin straws through to drink the medicine. Apparently it's super bitter.

playing at the workout playground

Sarah and Edwin having some fun.

2 Kolegas and the Redbucks

One of the guys from frisbee is in a bluegrass band (currently named the Redbucks) that played at a bar last night. I convinced one of my classmates to accompany me on the trek (like everything else fun in Beijing, it was on the east side while we are on the west). The bar, called 2 Kolegas, was located in a drive-in movie theater, along with several other places, like the "X-club" (which looked kind of swanky).

First thing of note: CAAAAAAAAAATSS!!!! :3 We stole them away from the next table (they had finished their food anyway). It's a mommy cat and her three fairly large kittens. And they were such kittens! One of them attacked a clump of grass, and then proceeded to chase its tail! The mom was much more stately and decided to hang out under my chair for a while. The orange and white kitty was the most scared. It kept its distance most of the time and kept on getting its food taken away from it. The rest were all pretty playful. I even picked one up :) It didn't protest at all.

They all look clean and well groomed. The mom was pretty thin, but I figure that she's just a slim kitty.









After I finished my sandwich, we tore ourselves away from the kitties and wandered into 2 Kolegas. The music stage was in the back of the building. It had an intentionally run-down look to it. The band started playing at about 10:30, and I found the other frisbee players who'd decided to attend. It was really fun :) The music was good. I guess I like bluegrass? The only song I knew was "Man of Constant Sorrow" that I know from the movie O Brother Where Art Thou.


There're 2 guitars, a bass, a mandolin, a banjo, and a violin.

Recent Crime

I've been told Beijing is incredibly safe for the lonely night wanderer, especially despite it being a large metropolis. I've been wandering pretty late at night alone because of frisbee and generally feel safe. However, this worries me:
[More]

Warden Message Regarding Two Stabbing Incidents in Beijing, China

This Warden Message is to inform Americans of reports of two stabbing incidents near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. According to the Associated Press, a French tourist was slightly injured in a September 19 knife attack on Dashilan near Tiananmen Square, an area frequented by tourists. Two days earlier, two security guards were killed and 14 people wounded in a separate knife attack in the same area. The police have indicated that the attackers chose their victims randomly. Their motivations are unknown.

While China’s violent crime rate remains low, these recent incidents give American citizens extra reasons to exercise vigilance and care. When in Beijing or other cities in China, Americans are advised to employ the same precautionary measures they would in any large city: when possible, do not travel alone; pay attention to your surroundings, especially when traveling in unfamiliar areas; avoid large demonstrations or protests; carry only as much cash as is absolutely necessary, and store the currency in multiple locations on your person. Travelers are reminded that Chinese regulations require foreigners to carry their passports with them at all times. You may wish to make a photocopy of your passport and visa pages, and store them in a separate place for safekeeping.

 via the US Embassy Website

I guess it was kind of inevitable?

So we've had our very own H1N1 case in the dorms now. It was some international student, nationality as yet unknown (to me). They figured it out when he went to the hospital for some test (I think? I'm not so clear on this)... and now he's stuck there I guess. It occurred somewhere on the 9th floor, so now the corridor that bridges the residential and academic buildings is blocked (annoyingly). And there is an increase in the number of face masks I see around campus.

However, other than a closed corridor and a few more face masks, there seem to be no other outward signs. No notice warning us of H1N1, no freak out, and as far as I know only the kid's roommate was quarantined. Presumably it's an isolated incident, since other than the door at one end of the corridor being closed, the 9th floor is still accessible, and as far as I know no one but the kid and his/her roommate have been moved.

oinkoink

*edit*
I take that back, there is a little freaking out. They are now taking everyone's temperature at the door. Also, apparently, despite the 9th floor looking accessible, there are people quarantined up there. Those that came in contact with the infected. And there has been not one, but two cases. A Korean and a Russian. *siigh*

Massage

Just got my first professional back massage. The first in China and anywhere else. And... I have mixed feelings about it.

It's Sarah's birthday today. Or it was, yesterday, since it's already the 23rd. I couldn't go to dinner with her (frisbee trumps most things) but since she was interested in getting a massage, I offered to accompany her for that. She'd heard about it from a friend; a place at the back of a hair salon that had cheap first time facials and a 38RMB massage (which we later discovered wasn't true, just miscommunication). I'd gotten Chinese massages before, but they were foot massages at a place my grandfather frequents, and I couldn't really remember what they were like. However, I had heard that Chinese massages are intense. And probably hurt. But, I mean, hey, it's a massage, right?

>.<

After some negotiations and confusion, we managed to find a massage (40min back massage) at a price we were comfortable with (88RMB, ~$13). The room they led us to was... cute? interesting? strange? Since I'd never gone to a salon to get a massage before, I have no idea what is standard. However, there is a stand-alone shower stall in the corner of the room by the door, and two massage beds with the standard hole in the head for the face in the back of the room. The shower was, we were told, for our use if we wished to wash before the massage. We, probably both rather weirded out, refused.

We were both giggly and nervous to start. It's weird staring into a hole in a bed. But there was relaxing asian-inspired music, complete with occasional bird calls, and the massage started with a warm towel.

It kind of went downhill from there.

First of all, I am horribly ticklish. Especially around my lower back. I'd known this and speculated about whether a professional masseuse would know how to avoid it. If I got massages from my friends, they couldn't go lower than my shoulder blades before I started to wriggle. But, of course, I'd completely forgotten about this during the excitement of finally getting a massage.

Secondly, Chinese massages are intense. And they do hurt. One of the massage techniques is called scraping... which is pretty much what it sounds like. Almost anything with a hard edge can be used. In fact, it's very similar to shin-splint treatment (or the same thing, i guess). Which I have gotten. Which hurts like hell. Our masseuses had what looked like a wide paddled dog grooming tool.. but the teeth were plastic and it was used on our skin, not on hair.

So first was the nice warm towel, and the rubbing of the back with the nice warm towel. Mmmmm... relaxing.

Next, balm of some sort, smoothed by warm palms. Also soothing.

And... the scraping. >.< The first few are fine, especially since the oil helps lessen the friction, but by the 5th scrape or so my back starts to hurt. Of course, neither of us protest. We assume that hurting is natural, especially at the beginning.

Then is the working out of the knots around my neck, shoulder, and spine. The first two hurt enough that it's hard to keep my breathing relaxed. The last one doesn't hurt enough to overcome the tickling. I want to squirm and laugh. Instead, probably failing, I try to not tense too much.

The massaging gets repeated a few times, separated by soothing rubdowns that make me think of a mother kissing away a booboo (only to return to the semi torture >.<), and i possibly get scraped again... The last technique is being covered by a towel and patted in a ba-da-dum ba-da-dum pattern that I recognize from the bathhouse movie we watched in class. The rubbing with a towel was also in there. It's actually kind of annoying. Since such a large area is being patted forcefully, and since it's my torso, it winds my slightly with every beat. I have to try hard not to cough as my breath tickles my throat.

Surprisingly, despite the discomfort the music, the lying on my stomach with my eyes closed, and the occasional soothing techniques make me lethargic, and the time passes surprisingly quickly. The woman says something like "get up pretty girl" and I look up bleary eyed, somewhat sad that it's over already.

aaand... my back looks like it's got a huge rash in the middle of it. And it's sore, as though i lifted a lot the day before. So.. mixed feelings. I'm not sure if this sort of massage is supposed to relax you or is supposed to be good for muscles. I feel like lots of Chinese things like this are supposed to improve your overall health. The scraping, for example, is supposed to increase chi and blood flow for overall healthiness, and it's supposed to pull out bad things and disperse them on the surface (or something). Supposedly the rash is a sign of bad blood flow, thus I need more massages...

The shower.


The tables (after use).

Chinese lesson

My lesson today finally touches on useful words:

《毛主席语录》(maozhuxi yulu) pretty much translates to "chairman mao's little book of phrases"
and
"宣传" (xuanchuan) means propaganda

also:
文化大革命 (wen hua da ge ming) means cultural revolution. 文革 (wen'ge) is an abbreviated way of referring to it.

XD also included in the new vocabulary is 老外 (laowai)!!! A very important word for foreigners in China to recognize! Haha, this book does have useful, relevant vocabulary after all!
(it's a colloquial way of saying foreigner. I imagine it's similar in connotation to the japanese gaijin [外人］. It's somewhat disrespectful [or at least not respectful] and possibly derogatory.)

My first international tournament :)

2009 Dalian Tournament

Dalian, Day 2

There was finally a good game on Sunday, although we didn't step it up until the second half. Shanghai played much more strongly the second day and gave us a run... (totally mixing up English phrases now...>.<).

Anyway. We lost, but had a lot of fun during the second half. The first half... was frustrating. I think half was 8-3 or something ridiculous like that >.< It ended up... 15-12 or 15-13. My girl scored game point :( I know breaks aren't technically the defender's fault, but I wanna be faster. And lay out more. I need a layout D some day...

I'm forgetting a significant detail about Sunday. It fucking POURED. Some of us were lucky. I got back to the tents just as the weather changed from steady drizzle to torrential rain. The games got delayed half an hour not so much because anyone though it was going to let up, but because people were hesitant about stepping out of the safety of the tents. The rain did eventually let up, and a little sun could be seen peeking through the clouds by the last couple games.

You can still see the lingering effects of the rain... Although despite this measure, we were all still pretty soggy by the end.

>.< now I really want to go to another tournament... but I'm not sure that's feasible :( I guess I'll just have to content myself with pickup... (which isn't to say that pickup isn't fun--it is!--but it doesn't really compare to a weekend of ultimate preceded by a 12 hour train ride on rock hard beds :P)

oh, and i wanted to add a quick note about the other beijing team's name. There are two main Beijing frisbee teams, Big Brother (大哥） and Beijing Bang (帮）. The first is mostly an ex-pat team, the second is a local team. Bang in Chinese means help, but it also means gang. It also sounds like "bong", but being spelled B-A-N-G (in hanyupinyin) many cheers follow the idea of "kiss kiss bang bang" etc. I thought it was clever :)

Some photos up

mostly in picasa... here's a tiny preview.



maybe more up later. gotta prepare for class!

Dalian, Day 1 Results

We won. We kind of crushed. It was to the extent that it was hard to really play well because we felt bad for the other teams. We're not the best team in China, but we brought the best players. I was told that on many other teams, the better players knew better than to come to this tournament (since it wouldn't be as good as many other tournaments, they might as well save their money).

It's Dalian's first tournament (photos later). They are serious about welcoming us, though! A bus came to pick us up from the train station. A nice bus--the kind the Chinese use to kart around their tourists. Apparently there was transpo for the people who came yesterday as well. They had water and food, which isn't that unusual... but they actually brought in take-out for lunch for us! (and it was free!) It wasn't that great, but it wasn't just bread and fruit and peanut butter either. And most things taste good when you're hungry. They also had watermelon! That they cut for us! and beer! (although it was weird date/grape tasting beer). There were 8 teams, so they didn't really run out of anything, which was nice for a change.


But really, playing some of the teams made me feel like a bully. One team was the Beijing Smurfs... and it looked like a family friendly team. There was a woman in her 30's who really just looked like a mom... there was a 12 year old kid that one of the guys on our team pretty much let catch and assist a point... but I have to say I understand. At one point he was covering me and I just stood there (in the end zone) feeling like if I scored on him it'd be really mean... We could have bageled them and instead let them score what was pretty much the most points any of the other teams scored against us (4+ points out of 13).


It makes me kind of sad that this will probably be the only tournament I attend. The level is significantly lower than I expected, and would expect of some of the more popular tournaments. I'm having fun hanging out with the team, but it was kind of dampened by not having much fun playing. Honestly, I have more fun at pickup... the problem is that even when the girl is as good or even a little better than me (BJ Bang has strong girls) the guys dominate... But I guess I can't go to Boracay... my grandparents are already making plans to do stuff with me. *sadface* I guess I'll just content myself with pickup...

train-ing

On the train!
It wasn't that difficult to get to the station. I got out of class 30min early to try to beat traffic. I got a taxi, but the driver told me that he couldn't drive me to the station, but the subway was still running so he'd take me to Xizhimen instead. It was actually a good call. The subway is faster, and the only bad thing about it was that it was really busy. But at Xizhimen I can get on a train that goes straight to the beijing railway station. I got there with plenty of time to spare.

*EDIT* I guess I should clarify. All this mess wasn't simply because the holiday is getting closer. It's because there's a practice parade/performance going on that they're performing crowd control. One of the main streets closed (Changanjie) so driving anywhere-especially to the train station that is right by that street, was made difficult*

Had my first KFC in China! Although I kind of cheated and didn't get chicken, just ice cream and egg custards (apparently really popular. I've eaten one already--really good!!).

We're moving now!

I'm on an end, on the top bunk of a hard sleeper (ie no rooms, just cubbies with 6 beds). It's not bad. The 4 upper bunks of this cubby are frisbee players. The bottom bunk has the most room, enough to sit up in. The top two are kind of cramped and if you want to sit, you need to lean over a lot. They're also pretty narrow (I don't think two people could fit. I barely fit with my computer bag next to me).

The rest of the players are in the next car over. They have the rum. We have the coke. Lol. They also have the burritos... :( We might try to move.

rar

got bitten again >.< my right eyelid is slightly puffy again. GAR.

playground gym and other china originals

I apologize for being behind in photo taking. I will try to remember to take my camera around with me more often so as to catch these things on film. After all seeing is believing.

Some amusing, not seen in the USA sights:

1) instead of normal playgrounds with swings, there are "exercise playgrounds" (my term). The equipment looks like normal playground stuff. Painted metal--blue and yellow. Same rounded edges. Etc. But all of it is exercise equipment. There is a mechanical elliptical, a mechanical leg swingy thing that kind of looks like this:

There are also big wheels that I've seen someone use for some sort of dynamic arm/shoulder work-out by rotating the (vertical) wheel and ducking under a shoulder while keeping hands on the wheel. Really, I'll try to get a friend to come with and we'll film demonstrations of the things.


There are also many other things that I don't recognize... but all the exercise minded Chinese come out at night. It's kind of funny watching them use a mechanical elliptical. It's not got an entirely smooth motion, so the "running" is sort of jerky... and it's also funny because they are, for the most part, wearing "normal" clothing.


2) Delivery KFC and McDonalds. The small deliverers (Chinese people really are on average smaller than americans... or even ABCs maybe? I don't know if it's the food.. or just the ones I've seen... or just the fact that I'm surrounded by them...) carry these huge box backpack things that are wider than they are and deliver them right to your dorm door. They ride bikes (hence why this sight probably isn't seen in the US, even if fast food delivered). It weirds me out a little that fast food is considered a treat/exotic/cool. I know that when I was 10 or 12 it was a treat to me (my parents were healthy minded people) but now it's generally just cheap on the road food...

anticipating frustrations

Taking the train to Dalian tomorrow. yay!

but... it's getting close to the national holiday thing (60th anniversary of the cultural revolution! yay! I'm still not entirely sure why people celebrate this...) so the security is ramping up and threatens to be obnoxious.

*edit* sorry, misinformation. My Chinese history sucks. The 60th anniversary of the establishment of the PRC, not the cultural revolution (which was about 40 years ago, not 60, and which no one would celebrate).

In order to get to the train station, I have to take the subway.

unfortunately... there is this notice:

Line1, line8, line2, line10 have traffic control tomorrow afternoon
  Line1,from 15:00 the last whole way train. from 16:00 it change its route. JUst from Pingguoyuan station(苹果园站） to Fuxing Men(复兴门)； but do not stop at Wukesong （五棵松）and Babaoshan (八宝山)
  Line2，From16：00Beijingstation (北京站) chungwenmen ,xuanwumen and changchunjie COLSE the north gate.From 16:00 it do not stop at Qianmen,Hepingmen. 16:30 Jianguomen is close and the train do not go through。 From22：00 it do not sto at FUxingmen
Line 10, from16:30 Guomao station colseoh


... it doesn't make sense to me either. but it seems like it'll be a pain in the ass >.<

so busy!

sorry, quick post again. I haven't really had a chance to sit down in front of the computer and do this recently (although, granted, I wasted about an hour reading manga earlier today.. but otherwise I've been busy or catching up on sleep >.<).


I just wanted to comment on the PDA in China. It's surprisingly frequent and prevalent. I'd have thought China a fairly outwardly repressed culture, but apparently that's not the case anymore. I suppose kids in college are already pretty old, but I was (perhaps wrongly) surprised that my roommate has a boyfriend.


But really, there are many 20-30 year old couples on the street holding hands, cuddling, or just making out on the sidewalks. They're usually not in the middle of the street, but they're hardly hiding when sitting on the borders or fences of the walkways. It's definitely more than you'd see around Chicago.


And if you go to a date-y place like Houhai? (yes, i've finally confirmed the name) they are EVERYWHERE by the water front, and probably having sex in some semi-secluded corner too. And this is the culture that locks the college dorm doors at 11pm (you can't go in or out after 11) and shuts down public transpo at 11pm too! Beijing is kind of a mess of contradictions sometimes. *Edit* I mean normal chinese college dorms. not the international student ones


Ahhh! and my presession is already more than half over. There's 1.5 weeks to go! The other kids arrive next Saturday (26th). I'm kind of sad. I've really enjoyed this. I doubt I'll have as much free time (what free time I was able to wrangle) after this. And frack, I gotta finish that book for class.....!!

little slice of home

--Unfortunately I did not anticipate this, so I didn't bring a camera. I will probably be going back in 2 weeks, so I will try to remember then.

The fields where I played frisbee the first Sunday was a little fence-enclosed square of grass, pretty much just large enough for a frisbee game... and I guess a soccer field. Just barely too small, probably. It, being real grass, is very expensive (Beijing has little free grass. The parks are mostly paved paths with lots of vegetation, especially bamboo and willow trees).

This time we took a little trip to the international piece of town, which looks scarily like a densely population American suburb. The cookie cutter houses were a little smaller than average, and the density is more similar to Hyde Park than real suburbia... but it was an incredibly low skyline for Beijing, where I'm not sure I've seen a single free-standing house before.

This is the area where companies put their international families, etc. It's got what is apparently a huge international school (which reveals just how many international employees work in Beijing). I was told the school requires students to have a foreign visa. I wonder what life is like for these kids.

We get these fields for free because a few of the players helps to coach the frisbee team there. They're really nice short turf fields--but really soft so soccer cleats work fine. If I had the choice, though, I'd take turf cleats over normal cleats. Normal cleats are just a little too sticky. If I were playing seriously I'd be afraid of turning too quickly and twisting an ankle or a knee.

Got jerseys :) I think they're so funny. Yaaay for cheap things in China (that I actually need).

Olympics Area

 Ok... not going to spam with too many more photos. You can check out the newest ones on the side in the picasa photo stream.

We went to the olympic forest park as well as the plaza. The park was really beautiful and really large. It's also where we met the kitten. ^^ The olympic buildings are cool... but I feel like they're better enjoyed at night. The area feels kind of abandoned, despite the ubiquity of tourists.

Clearly, it was a beautiful day out. It is very unusual to see clouds because it's often horribly hazy.

Lunch

We went to what was essentially a German themed Brazilian steakhouse.... but with a Chinese take to it. They served 烤 food (which translates to barbecued or roasted) in the same style that they serve meats at Fogo de Chao--that is to say on large skewers. But they don't serve steak. They have various meats (like duck and pork and beef) and corn and squid(!) and bananas(!!!!). >.< oh the Chinese..

cats!

cute kitty that has food and water bowls at a near by restaurant. Immediately came up to say hi when I held out my hand :)



Kitten! With the most adorable eyebrows. It really liked my aunt, but unfortunately we didn't have any food for it. One of the other women who stopped by with a baby boy had some cracker snacks that she fed it. ^_^ I know I shouldn't play with stray animals... but really, I can't help it!









-finally. one last kitty by my cousin's friend's apartment. fully grown but tiny. patterned black and white like a cow. Lele (the cousin) went and got a little sausage thing at a nearby convenience store and we fed it. ^_^

photo issues

so i forgot that flickr has a monthly upload limit for free accounts... which i've managed to already exceed less than 2 weeks into this month...so i guess i'm using blogger/picasa?

*siiigh* so much for the flickr photo stream, then. :(

Interviewing at the Purple Bamboo Park

Chinese uses such pretty names, but they sound ridiculous after a while when translated into English. I'm reading a book for Civ class (premature, but I'm being slow about it) that keeps on giving romanized Chinese names for places and then their translations and I really can't keep any of them straight. I think that seeing characters would help, even! The names don't fit in English and are too many syllables. In Chinese they form these neat little 3-4 syllable distinctive.. phrase-like things that are generally much easier to recognize.

Anyway, above tangent aside (sorry), we're heading out early tomorrow to talk to old people at the park. We'll be asking them semi-personal questions, but apparently they're pretty chatty and won't take offense...? I hope. We're to ask them about stuff like: they're lives after retirement, whether they live with their children/why, what their life was like before "gaigekaifang" (a somewhat recent economic reform), about the increasing rate of obesity and divorce in China, etc etc. Then we're to give a presentation about it. Fun! <.<

...and i'm going to stop trolling the web now. good night.

nomnom

Went to a korean barbecue-style restaurant last night. It's somewhat pricy by Chinese standards, but suuuuuper cheap by American standards (it translates pretty perfectly if you pretend the yuan are dollars). There was a little hole in the table where they put in red hot iron(?) bars, and then a lid shaped pan on top on which you put your meets. We got sliced lamb, a veggie assortment, and a plate of super bacon (like, super thick cuts that make US bacon look puny). It was... 87RMB total. For two people. That's about 6 bucks each. I guess we could have eaten another plate of meat, easily, but we felt weird spending a lot on dinner. I'm personally weirdly frugal here. I know I'm spending pretty much change on every meal, but it feels wasteful to spend more than 15RMB (2-3 bucks) on a meal... and ~50c (3RMB) on a 550ml bottle of water seems ridiculous when you can get a 1.5L for 2RMB.

Mosquito distress

*wails* I'm getting eaten alive while merely sleeping in my room... heard the buzzing (scary, ominous buzzing) twice tonight in my ear (hid under the covers the second time >.<). So far i have at least 5 on my face (two, somehow nearly identical, on top of my eyelids making them puffy) and one on my neck and like 4 on my right arm... and others on my legs. I DON"T KNOW WHAT TO DO I CAN"T SLEEP AGHHHHHHH. Seriously, if I can't find a way to get rid of them..... I can't wait until winter gets here and they all die (they better all die!!). I think whoever comes up with a way to wipe out mosquitos should get a nobel prize or something. This is getting ridiculous...

*EDIT* 11:16pm
splattered the culprit this morning on my ceiling.. now there's a fairly large smear of (i'm pretty sure) what used to be my blood... ewww... but at least it's dead. And it had better be the only one that was in the room (although seriously.. how long to mosquitos live? I've been getting bites for like 2 weeks).

I have a roommate~!

...but first, let's start this post in order of events :)

1. The plan with the grandparents this morning was to film my grandmother telling me two stories, and then film my grandfather telling me about photos in this book that was made about him for the 80th celebration thing. It was pretty cute. :) It's weird to think, though, that it's an effort to preserve their lives as they near an end... (slowly, slowly, I hope!).

2. Afterwards we went to hotpot. Every one had their own little pot with a little canned flame underneath..... halfway through the meal my grandmother noticed that i was burning my hair on the flame >.< It's not that bad, but a little of the hair on the left side is singed... Lunch was yummy, though :)

3. Left after that....... got stuck in nasty traffic on the bus back to my dorm, but after I got off and was walking from the stop to the dorm, I passed a small river and saw the CUTEST little orange kitty sipping from the water. AHHHHHHH!!! I would have taken a picture but my camera was buried in my bag and I was in a little bit of a hurry.

4. Met my roomie :) She's very nice and somewhat quiet but fairly in touch with fashion (enough that I'm not worried for her sanity or social abilities). She doesn't know a lot of English, so I can't cheat :P I like her so far. She's very neat (something I've managed to be while here so far...) Hopefully we'll get along well :)

Purchases #1

Just a few of the things I've bought in China so far.
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SHOES! They're a slightly greener blue than my camera was able to catch. I <3. Notice: Beijing has already marred their shiny newness :(

This is kind of cheating. This was actually given to me as a present. It's so cute I couldn't resist showing it off, though! Is it obvious what it is?


DISCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC!

In Dalian!

Got in last night... after an annoying delay and a move of gate... they somehow swapped two of the flight gates (I think) and then we boarded late and took off late. :(

Still, it's nice to see the grandparents again. I did some shopping, and we went to a celebration dinner for my grandfather--an absolutely enormous one... you'd think he was the president of a small nation or something! I'm not entirely clear what it was for... I think it's simply because he's a well known person in the Chinese science community and he's turning 80 this fall... so it's an excuse to celebrate!

Luckily there were a few kids there my age, and I spent a good half of the time not eating talking to a younger cousin. It's funny how, especially in a different country, I relate to the younger better. Maybe it's because their language is less likely to be complicated, and they are more enthusiastic about talking. The ones my age knew English... which was weird to me because I wanted to speak Chinese. Another point for the younger ones is that I feel more comfortable about sounding stupid around them.

:( I have to go back tomorrow. On the bright side: I will finally get to meet my roommate! Secondly: I will be back in a few weeks.. tho I'll barely see any of my grandparents during that time, unless they decide to watch a game or two (which would be cool, I think... maybe my grandfather would take pics :)).

Click more for pics
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The Mall: The floating egg structure in the middle houses a mini apple store on its second level (not the whole thing).


Lots of floors! Yet still a very large footprint. They don't mess with malls here!


THE PARTY OF PARTIES: the cake to end all cakes!! Perhaps this gives you an idea of how many people were present.


This might help too. It's the 'table of honor'. Instead of a lazy susan they were all served individually.