Monday August 20th

Yay!

Finals have been over since Friday. I'm still at 11th Lou at Zhejiang University of Technology this time living with Aya (who's leaving with Jonathan tomorrow afternoon), and its been so relaxing. I can officially say I'm on vacation. This morning I woke up to watch "Jia You Er Nu" ( a kid's show that I can understand 80% of the conversation) and then I hung out uploading pictures and walking to Xi hu. There are still a couple of people here (The Tang's, Aya, Jonathan,Siwen, and two tongwus,Shibingkun and lady friend) so the atmosphere is still very Xingbake Ru Ci. In fact, today I stopped by XingbaKe to get a Red Bean Frappaccino and a muffin. Cost me 50 RMB (5USD), still alot but I was in that kind of mood.

You know, finally I can listen to English music without the feeling of persecution, talk English while getting a foot massage, and get to know people. I love the language pledge because it was effective in establishing a sense of self confidence when speaking to other people and make talking in a different language a habit, but there are just certain topics that are harder to talk about in Chinese than English, and I'm glad I have the choice in which language I choose to speak now.

Tomorrow I'm going to Beijing and writing out part two of my crazy life. I think I got frustrated easily in this program and I might have to edit some entries, but I also think I'll be mildly entertained 5 years from now when I read it. I'm writing this for me, kind of for you, but more for me. The most scandalous thing I've done in Hangzhou, nothing. I don't drink after all. But one thing I wish I did was keep up with American news. I just found out yesterday that a bridge collapsed in America. I also saw pictures of my dance group at Dorney Park. I just realized oh my god, a month ago, I was in a hip hop dance group. I didn't forget, but I haven't seen them for a long time. It brought back a flood of memories.

I bought rosewood fans today. It smells like a Yue Nan house. I love it. I also got three umbrellas from Xi Hu, which reminds me of Ann's Dance that we did two years ago in VSA. I've been practicing it for a week and yep, its still in my noodle. I don't know what I'll do with that information, I just appreciate that I can recreate it during my free time.

Man tomorrow I'm leaving Hangzhou. Siwen and I bought tickets to the 10:58 PM one with HARD SEATS. 16 freakin hours of hard seats. That's basically the plane ride from Philly to Shanghai. The day after we're picking up Caoyin from the airport. Somewhere between Wednesday and Friday I will meet up with Jenn, Ling, and Geraldine. Wednesday night we should be going to a Jiu Ba with foreigners. Yay dance music that I'll recognize.

When I get to Beijing, I am going to learn Taijiquan. I've been completely inspired by MengXue. I'm also going to play Badminton and learn how to play better like those crazy teachers from the XiaoXue in Hangzhou. The Guzheng might be hard to purchase, so I don't know if I can really do it in Beijing. I dunno if I want to learn PingPong. I'm definitely going to focus on the fluency of speaking Chinese because I'm no longer on a language pledge and that's what I came here for. I'll also definitely learn some Chinese songs to sing at Nancy's wedding. Man its coming up fast. My sister's getting married!

I saw the Gaginang Conference. Go cousin Fong!

My hands are sleepy. I don't know why I feel so lethargic after finals. I mean I've already crashed and burned. I bought my dad a cd today. He's going to love it because I love it. Its a fusion of chinese instruments and a girl with a heavenly voice sings it. It gave me incessant chills when I listened to it at the store. Actually I've gotten multiple gifts for people. Nancy gets a qipao for her wedding and Judy gets a compass like 50 year calendar. Its amazing cuz you turn it to the month, the year, and the date, and it will tell you the day of the week it is. That way, you will always know what day it is.

Tomorrow I need to buy a luggage case because I have too much crap to bring to Beijing. Definitely a ma fan.

Twice today people asked me if I was a Hang Guo Ren. Do I look Korean? Is it the accent? Is it my lack of agressive bargaining nature when I'm lethargic?

I've been walking through the city for the past two weeks and I can recognize the difference between fa da and fa zhan. There are alot of concentrated prosperous places and alot of crap shoots in China. Like in America, they are much farther away, cuz the city and the suburbs are just that far. In China, you can walk to a really expensive place and two streets later, your mantou can be 5 mao (.5 RMB). I like hanging out on Ya Nan Road though. Reminds me of Shanghai and alot of shopping opportunities with reasonable prices. Hushu Road is cool too cuz I love XingBaKe and their western toilets. Crouching ones just smell bad and sometimes they don't have toilet paper.

The only places I haven't been are the silk museum and Zhejiang DaXue, the other college in Hangzhou that is three times as big. Do I regret anything about Hangzhou? I should've surrounded myself with more TV and took chances talking about something not in my norm. There is still alot I need to learn. OK I NEED MY SLEEP.