便宜 is my Favorite Word Pt. 2

Wednesday (July 24)

Coincidentally, Haley and I wore matching outfits today. Some of our classmates thought we had planned it out, but that was not the case at all. I literally walked into school and the first thing Haley said to me was "Are we wearing the same thing?".

Haley's Instagram caption: "Went to China. Found a twin” Btw, my dress has tiny bows on it while Haley has large bows.

After school, Alex, Matthew and I headed over to Matthew's host house...where we were, unluckily, locked out. I asked Matthew why he didn't carry a key with him, and he replied that someone was always home, so there was no need for it. Well, no one was home today, so we had to call Sander (Matthew's host brother) for help. Unfortunately, neither Sander nor his mom had the keys to the house, so we had to wait with them in the restaurant for an hour before Sander's dad was done with his massage. It wasn't too bad, though, because I got some reading and homework done, and Sander made a QQ for me and Alex. Plus, Sander's mom ordered each of us this yummy watermelon drink. It was pretty relaxing. 

When we finally got into Sander's house (btw, his house is really nice. They have hundreds of books in their living room), his dad interrogated me about Hawaii. It was pretty funny. He was asking Sander what the capital of Hawaii was because it might be on the SAT. We had to explain to him that it won't be on the SAT because the SAT is more about reasoning than memorizing cities and capitals (unless he's planning to take the SAT II's....then I don't really know). 

After Sander's house, the four of us (including Sander) took the 118  bus to Michelle's area and walked all the way to 文二路, where we reached this huge shopping mall and plaza with lots of food shops lined up next to it. The food was yummy (and only 7 元... that's about $1 for dinner!), but the dessert was even better. Because Michelle and I wanted to buy some more stationary items (her sister had told her there was a stationary shop in back of the shopping mall), we headed inside the mall, where I bought more glue sticks and animal-shaped whiteouts. (Oh, Haley and Michelle got hit on by the guy selling them iPhone cases). 

What is Sander laughing at? I don't really know.

When we got out of the shopping mall, it was already dark out...and the dancing had begun...so Michelle and I made our way past the rollerblading kids to the area with the old Chinese ladies. Matthew's dancing was hilarious. He just...yeah. Lanky arms and legs. I have some videos, which I will probably upload when I get back home. Sander was just staring at us like "What are these crazy Americans doing?". We have some pictures from that night, but it looks like we're partying in a mosh pit at a rave...instead of at a park...dancing with old Chinese ladies. 

Eventually, Haley and Michelle had to leave, so it was just me, Sander, Alex, and Matthew. The unexpected happen and Gangnam Style started playing. There was the original version and a remixed version. Alex and Matthew ran back to the dancing and made fools out of themselves (hehe, kidding. I love you guys). Apparently, a dancing line was formed (the one where people line up on both sides, and you dance down the middle space)...and Alex and Matthew just strut through the line like nobody's business.

I ended the night by taking the taxi home by myself for the first time. The fee was only 18 元, so it wasn't too expensive. It wasn't that scary either, and the cab driver was pretty nice. I had survived! Woo! All in all, it was a fun night.

Thursday (July 25)

Not too much happened today, except that we had an RD meeting and celebrated Francesca's belated birthday with cheesecake (both regular and green tea-flavored!). Happy belated birthday Francesca! For lunch, Haley, Matthew, Michelle and I headed back to the boba place and bought ourselves yummy drinks. Well, Matthew bought himself a foot long from the subway next door. Typical Matthew. 

¥9 = $1.50

Btw, I lied guys. I'll be having one or two more posts to continue this. 

便宜 is my Favorite Word Pt. 1

As the weeks go by, I'm growing fonder and fonder of China. I'm blogging right now because I've been in a bit of a depressed mood. It's not because I'm homesick, but because I've realized that 4 weeks have gone by incredibly fast...and now I only have 2 weeks left. I'm trying to fit everything into the 2 weeks as best as I can.

Because I have a lot to say, I'm going to split this into two blog posts.

Saturday (July 20)

As I mentioned in my last post, I went shopping with Alex and Michelle today. The taxi fee from the school to the shopping mall was 27 元. Because there was three of us in the cab, we only had to pay 9 元 each (which is equivalent to $1.50). When we got to the shopping mall, we met up with Haley and her host sister, Nancy. Let me tell you guys something, the shopping mall was incredible. It was bigger and nicer than the one my host mom had taken me to the week before. There was even a shopping mall just for shoes right across the street. China is amazing. 

Inside of the mall, the 5 of us first headed to a Purikura store. If you guys don't know what Purikura is, it's the Japanese name for one of those sticker photo booths. As Haley said it best on her instagram: "One photo sheet = $2....Squeezing five Asians into the tiny photo booth = priceless". One photo sheet had 16 pictures, so each person got to keep 3 sticker photos (and because we had split the cost, we only paid 3 元 person = $0.50).

After purikura and a little shopping, Haley and Nancy had to leave us, so it was just Alex, Michelle and me. The three of us hit up almost every shop in the store, as Alex exercised her professional bargaining skills (seriously guys, Alex is a pro-bargainer. She is fierce when it comes to bargaining). Thanks to Alex, I was able to get 4 skirts, a dress, and a ton of stationary items for dirt cheap! It is worth mentioning that in every shop, the shopkeepers asked us "你们住在那里?“ or some variation to that. Even though we look Chinese (or in Michelle's case, Korean), we did not sound Chinese at all. They could tell we were 外国人 (foreigners). We had to explain to them that we were from America and that we were in Hangzhou to study Chinese. Alex even got to explain her whole life story to one of the shopkeepers because I was taking too long in the stationary store. Oops. 

Look at all of these cute clothes!

When we were done shopping, we headed over to the food shops on the other side of the street and ate Xiao Long Bao (I think that's what it's called) at this hole-in-the-wall place for only 15 元 (less than $1 per person). The food was delicious, and we really felt that we were experiencing authentic China today (non-touristy places). 

Ladies making 饺子 right in front of our lunch table.

Because there was a hair salon nearby, I decided to get my hair cut as well (having long hair in China is terrible during the summer). I would post pictures, but I don't have any. They are all on Michelle and Alex's phones, so hopefully they will post it on Facebook. For a deep wash and a pretty nice haircut, it was only 40 元 (about $6-7). I'm incredibly happy with the cut, especially since it was in such a sketchy place. The funny thing was...the salon workers were trying to talk to me, but I couldn't understand 50% of what they were saying because of their strong accents. In the end, they gave up and only talked to Michelle (about how I wanted my hair to be cut and etc) because she was talking to a lady in Chinese...so they assumed she was our translator or something). 

In the evening, I went dancing again! I love park dancing so much that I go almost every day now. Heck, I'm even doing my final project on park dancing! I love it that much.

Sunday (July 21)

Not much to say about this day. Instead of going shopping with my host mom and sister, I decided to stay home and finish Pride and Prejudice for my school back home. I don't regret it too much because I really needed a day to stay home and just relax anyways. Going out everyday is tiring. 

Monday (July 22) 

Typical school day. We had Chinese knot tying after class (culture class) and Chinese games as our interactive activities. The knot tying was difficult, and the games were....interesting. We played the Chinese version of duck-duck-goose and hopscotch. Needless to say, we all fail at hopscotch...except Rachel. The two guys in charge of the games were incredibly nice and gave us gifts (a cute hackey sack and pick-up sticks) to take home. 

Tuesday (July 23)

Originally, we had a community service event of cleaning up West Lake today, but because it was so hot, our RD moved it to next Monday, I don't remember doing much on this day, but I think Michelle, Alex, Matthew, Haley and I went to the boba place (Alex calls it bobo, cute) by Zhejiang University and bought ourselves Mango shave ice. Best shave ice. EVER. 

Hangzhou Newsletter #2

Random Pictures

So frustrated that I can only post two pictures in each email.

Lingering Garden in Suzhou

Terrible picture, but this is the only picture of us boating around West Lake

Week 3 Pictures

Boating in West Lake

Dancing underneath a bridge in a park

Week 3

So sorry for neglecting my blog, but I've just been so busy and lazy to blog (each post takes me about an hour to write...so it's really time-consuming). Time flies so fast in China...I've already been here for 3 weeks. Despite how hot Hangzhou is, I love China a lot. I love how cheap the food is, how cheap the bargaining markets are, how many different kinds of ice cream there are, the people, etc. I have 3 weeks left, and I'm already getting sad about leaving. Six weeks just isn't enough time.

I find that the easiest way to recollect my thoughts is to just divide it up by days:

Sunday (July 14)

My host mom and sister brought me to a bargaining market today. One word to describe the shopping: AMAZING. There are so many stores lined up in there, and they literally have everything: shoes, bags, toiletries, cosmetics, clothes, toys, pens, notebooks, and various other items. I bought two dresses, two headbands, and some things for school. I spent only 77 元, which is about $12. The two dresses were only 35 元, or about $6. How cheap is that? They were cute dresses, too. I love shopping here LOL. Best day ever. The only downside was the bus ride back home. I wanted to cry at how packed it was. 

Monday + Tuesday (July 15+16)

Things weren't too interesting these two days, so I don't remember a lot of what happened. All I know was that we had Chinese calligraphy class after lunch on Monday and a lecture on the Chinese zodiacs on Tuesday. I would post a picture of my calligraphy, but they are horrendous...so no pictures, sorry. I also went to the grocery store today...found some Super Junior-M peanut butter cookie bars, bought some blueberry Pocky (never had these before), and found out that Super Junior was in Hawaii while I am in China. My luck....

Wednesday (July 17)

My Chinese teacher, 李老师, is the best. That is all. He treated my class (Olive, Me, Alex, Kaelin, Haley, and Michelle) to lunch today, and everything was so delicious. It was the best lunch that we've had in a while because the school's lunch is 不好. 

After lunch, 张老师 gave all of the Americans a lecture on Chinese food culture. It was pretty interesting to learn about the different types of cuisines in China. My favorite would have to be food from the Guangdong province because I love Cantonese food. Sorry Zhejiang, I can't part with my Canto food. When the lecture was over, we took a private bus to Hefang Street. Hefang Street was okay...but you could definitely tell it was primarily a tourist spot because everything was overpriced. The only thing I bought from there was a Coca-cola slurpee, which wasn't even a slurpee; it was just regular coke with some ice in it. Michelle bought some tea, so we were able to witness the preparing and serving of tea (the saleslady made us sit  while she made the tea in front of us). Kaelin, Matthew and Will also got their pictures taken with some Chinese people. Female Alex (we also have a male Alex - Frankly I think male Alex looks like a Max, though) wanted to get into the picture too, but the Chinese girls told her "不用你" and pushed her out of the picture LOL. Alex is full Chinese, so yeah. No love for Michelle, Alex, Haley and me because we're either half or full Chinese...so no one wants to take a picture with us. We don't look 外国人 enough ;___; Instead, people ask us to take the picture for them. Pffft. Whatevers. 

In the evening, D and Sage came to my house for a visit. One word to describe it: awkward. I just felt really nervous and tired. Only my host mom was home at the time because my host dad was picking my host sister up from her night classes. He basically just asked us about how things were going, how I liked the food, and other things. The awkward part were the awkward silences that would take over after we finished talking about each topic. Awkward. 

Oh, I also found out that the host moms have a QQ chat as well (before, I mentioned that the host siblings have one to talk about us). Well, the host moms also have one, where they talk about the Americans in it. Funny. 

Thursday (July 18）

Today, we had a culture class on Longjing green tea and oolong tea. The class was pretty cool because the teacher let us make the tea by ourselves. The tea trays are so cute--the cups are so tiny and 很可爱. After that, we had another RD meeting with D. Sage wasn't there because she other business to attend to (which I won't go into, but I'm just very disappointed. I'm very fortunate to be placed in Hangzhou because we're all good kids. LOL. Actually, we're all such goody-too shoes. Seriously. We joke that the only "scandalous" thing that we do is party in the Walmart 15 mins away from the host institution...which is pretty true.). It felt weird having D give us the idiom of the week instead of Sage. I would tell you guys the idiom, but I don't remember it. 

After dinner, my host mom and sister brought me to this park along this famous river/canal (it's a world heritage site, btw--the river/canal), and I witnessed some dancing. We actually saw two dances going on in different places of the park (the park is huge). One was under a bridge, so it was completely dark, and the other was on a well-lit stage l o l. I didn't dance today, but I told my host mom that I wanted to come back again tomorrow and try it. 

Friday (July 19)

李老师 IS THE BEST. YEEE.  We watched 功夫熊猫 (Kungfu Panda) in class today. It was in Chinese, of course, with Chinese subtitles. I couldn't follow the voices, but I was able to follow the Chinese subtitles for a bit because my reading is better than my listening skills. Something I found strange was that the actors were not saying the same thing as the Chinese subtitles...I think my teacher mentioned something about it being dubbed by Taiwanese singers/people? Something like that...so they have different phrases and expressions from Mainland Chinese, so the subtitles and the speaking parts are not saying the same thing. 

After lunch, we went boating in West Lake. The boat made two rounds around the whole lake (which is huge). Since it was super hot, I caved in and spent 7 元 on a blueberry ice cream cone. Even though it's technically only $1...my wallet was crying because I could have gotten that same ice cream for 3 元 at a non-tourist spot. Boo. Oh wells. It was delicious. I love Chinese ice cream. Ice cream is one of the best things about China. When we got back to the school, our host siblings were there and we got to play cards with them. My group played BS, Egyptian War (which I found out is not how it is called by the rest of the US....I guess only Hawaii then), and some Chinese card games. Egyptian War got pretty intense when people were trying to slap the cards, in order to get back into the game. This reminded me of 8th grade...when Caroline broke Sara's nail because she slapped the cards too hard while playing this game LOL. Good times. 

After dinner, my host mom, sister and I went back to the park again. We settled on the dancing ladies underneath the bridge. I actually danced today, and it was so much fun. My host sister didn't dance as much because she thought the dancing was 很奇怪 (strange). I personally liked the dancing. It's pretty cool how everyone there knows the dance; it was like a flash mob. I had a lot of fun. I also had fun watching my host mom dance because, well, it was just a funny sight to see. I'm planning to go dancing again soon...and I can cross this off my China bucket-list. Yay~

Right now, my host family and I are watching ‘Voice of China,' which is on every Friday. It's supposedly really popular in China, just like The Voice in America. Tomorrow, I'm going shopping with Alex, Michelle, Haley, and Kaelin. Super excited for that. I'll probably head to bed early tonight because being in China is just so tiring. Even though I sleep for 7 hours each day (which is way more than the amount of sleep I get in Hawaii), I'm still always so tired. I have the hardest time staying awake in my Chinese classes because of that. I think it's because of the heat and the weather. It's just the type of weather that makes people feel sleepy all of the time. 

Anyways, I'm going to go shower, watch some more Voice of China, and head to bed. I am all pooped out for the day.

Until next time, 

Christine

"Are We Even in Suzhou?" pt. 2

Group photo at Lingering Garden

Canal inside the Happy Buddha temple

"Are We Even in Suzhou?"

Our overnight trip to Suzhou turned out to be a dud. We did not do many of the things on our scheduled itinerary. Our schedule said that we would be visiting 狮子林, shopping on 观前街, visiting 寒山寺, 枫桥古镇, and 留园, but we only visited 留园 and another temple with the Happy Buddha.

Beforehand, I was very excited for this trip because Haley's brother, Stanley (NSLI-Yer in Suzhou), said that 观前街 is an amazing place to shop. There are many stores, and the items are, apparently, incredibly cheap. I brought so much money with me to Suzhou because of this. When we got to Suzhou, however, our plans were changed because of our tour guide. Instead of going shopping, she made us go KTV-ing...which is ridiculous. I don't want to come off as complaining, but if we wanted to go KTV-ing, we could have done so in Hangzhou (which we already did on our 2nd day here). All of us were obviously quite upset because shopping in Suzhou was something a lot of us were looking forward to. Being the troopers that we are, however, we agreed to KTV and stayed there until 9 pm. Afterwards, a couple of us left the KTV place and searched for somewhere else to go. There wasn't really anywhere to go, though, because our hotel was in the middle of nowhere. There were no sidewalks and the buildings were dilapidated-looking. The whole area was just sketchy...even the KTV, which looked like one of those KTVs where "things" happen (escorts and everything). We did not feel safe at all, so we just walked back to the hotel and watched movies on Matthew's computer in the lobby. The hotel was quite okay; it's not the best, but the bathroom was amazing. It felt so good while I was showering that I did not want to get out. Also, the beds had actual pillows and mattresses. No stiff bamboo pillows/beds! I slept like a baby last night. It was amazing. The only thing I don't like about the hotel (and all of China) is that everyone smokes here. There are literally no non-smoking areas at all. (The hotel is so odd. There's a "1st, 2nd, 6th, and 8th floor--no in-between. On the 8th floor, there are two elevators. The left one leads to another building that is different from our hotel. Michelle and I learned this the hard way when we spent 10 minutes in the left elevator trying to get to the lobby of our hotel. Finally, we figured out that we had to use the right elevator to get to the lobby. Also, on the 6th floor, there is a "work-out room" in the middle of the hallway. Technically, it's one bike set right by the elevator). 

KTV in Suzhou

The lovely work-out room, as designated by the Chinese sign in the top left corner (which I happened to cut half of it off, but it's to the right of the curtains)

Next morning, we checked out of the hotel and set out to another temple (the one with the Happy Buddha). It was interesting, but hot. We walked around, took pictures, listened to what our tour guide had to say about each thing (I understood maybe 10% of what she said because she was speaking too fast and I couldn't comprehend her Chinese), rubbed these dragon statues for good luck, bought more ice cream, and talked to some American teachers who were teaching in China for a month. 

After leaving the temple, we had lunch at a dim-sum place, which wasn't too bad. Then we went to a street market to do some browsing and shopping. Unfortunately, I did not see anything that I wanted...but Matthew bought himself a coin collection and Michelle bought herself a key chain with her Chinese name engraved on it. There was also a Dairy Queen along the street shops, but it was really expensive. 

To sum it up, our trip to Suzhou was a disappointment. We didn't get to see as much of Suzhou as we had wanted to because our tour guide kept changing the itinerary, which was just ridiculous and stupid. Whatever. Suzhou seems like a pretty and interesting city, but we weren't exposed to much of that during out visit. I have more pictures to post, but the email size limit prevents me from doing so...so I'll just put it in another post. Apparently, a typhoon is supposed to hit the Zhejiang and Fujian province tonight, so we're all staying inside and preparing for big rain showers.

Until next time, 

Christine

Pictures

According to my friend, the PDF didn't upload with the post, so here is a screenshot-ed version of it.

Adjusting to the Hangzhou Lifestyle

To be honest, I did not experience any culture shock coming to Hangzhou. I guess it's because the lifestyle here is pretty similar to my Asian lifestyle back in Hawaii. Same goes with Michelle, Haley, and Alex (the other Asian Americans on this trip). The only thing that I can't get used to is the excessive honking (it is taboo to honk in Hawaii because it is rude and annoys the other drivers), the squat potties (I correctly used it for the first time today...after using it wrong for the past two weeks), and wearing house slippers/shower slippers (we never wear shoes in the house in Hawaii. It is rude to do so).

So even though the past week passed by pretty fast, it's been quite eventful. I'm not going to go into depth about what we did because, frankly, I can't remember...but I'll kind of cruise through some of the things I do remember.

In my last post, I forgot to mention that I bonded with my host mom last Saturday by watching EXO on Happy Camp together. (I honestly adore my host mom. We have long discussions in Chinese during our dinners because it's usually just us eating together.) Knowing that EXO was going to be on Happy Camp, I was pretty excited for this. I told everyone about it---my host family, my classmates, my friends, my teachers, etc. My host mom and dad were gracious enough to watch the 2 hour show with me. I couldn't understand a lot of things because it was all in Chinese (I usually watch this on Youtube with English subs), but I was able to catch on at random times by reading the Chinese subtitles (my reading skills are far better than my listening skills). Nevertheless, I was happy because I've been so EXO-deprived in China. I also found out that EXO is going to LA in August for KCON, so I'm slowly trying to figure out a way to go. The concert is a week after I come back from China. 

Besides Happy Camp, we participated in a lot of activities during school this past week. On Monday, we had dance class and learned this national Chinese dance. The song made me want to do Chinese zumba. If you're a parent of a Hangzhou NSLI-Yer, you should have gotten a video of us dancing l o l. I have yet to see it, but I'll ask my parents to show it to me when I return to Hawaii. On Tuesday, we participated in a "community service" project at an old folks home. We sang "茉莉花“ for them, and they performed various songs and dances for us. It was actually pretty fun and interesting, and the 老人 (senior citizens) are all so 可爱  (cute). On Wednesday (yesterday), we toured Zhejiang University and got to visit Matthew's host father. His host dad is a professor in Zhejiang University's International Studies department. Today we presented our Scavenger Hunt project and my group won 2nd place. We received cupcake-flavored oreos (yummy!). Tomorrow, we're leaving for an overnight trip to Suzhou, so that should be fun (party bus woo!). I'm still jealous that the Suzhou groups gets to visit Shanghai, but I'm excited for Suzhou too. 

Because I have a myriad of topics that I want to mention in my posts and I'm terrible at transitioning into different topics, I'm just going to list the rest down:

• Lately, the Hangzhou newspaper and news stations have been coming to our host institution to interview us. It's really awkward when they just come into our classroom and start filming us. Today, our teacher made Ryan offer the camera crew some snacks that she brought for us. It was pretty hilarious because of how awkward everything was. Apparently, we were on the news last night and we will be on the news tonight too. I'm too lazy to watch TV, so hopefully one of the other NSLI-Yers will film it. But here are some articles I found: http://hznews.hangzhou.com.cn/kejiao/content/2013-07/10/content_4802885.htm and http://news.cnwest.com/content/2013-07/10/content_9695428.htm (they're both in Chinese)
  
• I LOVE my class so much: the room, the people, the teachers. Today, 张老师 taught and brought us Hangzhou snacks because she knows how much my class loves eating during our 10 minute breaks. She brought us so much snacks, and they were all pretty delicious. 
• The bus here is ridiculous. Because the program keeps  us at school/touring around so late, I don't get on the bus home until 5:30 pm. This is the worst time to get on the bus because this is when it gets really crowded...and when I mean crowded, I mean CROWDED. It's jam-packed. People are squeezed up against each other that you have to force your way through to the exit. (I would take a picture for you guys, but there is no room for me to do that. That's how crowded it is). Also, the bus drivers close the exit door so fast (like in 10 seconds). This happened to me this morning. I was literally 4 feet away from the exit, but since there was so much people on the bus today, it took me more than 20 seconds to get to the door. Right when I got to the exit, he closed the door on me...so I had to aggressively shout "等一下” (wait a minute) for him to open it again. 
• Before I got on the bus yesterday morning, I dropped the phone that NSLI-Y gave us and the battery fell out and everything. The old man next to me was trying to tell me something about it, but I couldn't understand ;__; So I just nodded my head, said "对“ and smiled. I think he was asking if my phone was okay or something like that because after I put my battery back in and started the phone, he smiled and said something. When we got on the bus, we didn't talk again...but the cutest thing was that when he got off at his stop (which is 2 stops before I have to get off to transfer from the 303 bus to the 197 bus), he smiled at me and told me bye. I love little babies and old people here. They're all so cute and nice, LOL. 
• My mom bought durian for me at the supermarket last Sunday. Because it was so big, I brought some to school on Monday for Angelo and Will. Angelo loves durian, but for Will, this was his first time trying it. He didn't like it LOL. He ate it, spit it into the trash can, and ran to the bathroom. It's weird...I personally like durian...and I don't think it smells bad at all. I guess it's just a love-or-hate thing. You either hate it or you love it...no in-between. My host sister hates the smell of durian. 

Anyways, now I'm going to go study for my dictation (yay dictations!! Can you sense my sarcasm?). I attached a newsletter of us in Hangzhou (written by our RD and assistant RD, I think) that was emailed to our parents, so hopefully it shows up. My dad forwarded it to me. I would take more pictures in Hangzhou, but Angelo is literally doing that for us. I'll just tag myself in his pictures when he uploads it to Facebook because he takes pictures of us doing everything. Some of the pictures in the newsletter were taken by him...like the one of us at KTV, buying milk tea, and etc. Hehe, it's funny that I'm in every picture on the newsletter. For the paper cutting one, my butterfly is in the bottom-right corner. 

Until next time, 

Christine

A Week Already?

Time passes by really fast in China. It's been a week since I've arrived in China and almost two weeks since I've left Hawaii. Here's a gist of how my last three days went:

Friday (July 5th)

After Chinese classes, we explored the Zhejiang Museum. It was definitely interesting, but the only downside was that I could not understand anything because the exhibits were all in Chinese. Even though I've been in Hangzhou for a week already, my Chinese is not that good. Plus, I think my listening skills have improved more than anything else. We've been doing a lot of listening and speaking in our classes instead of reading and writing. 

Exploring the museum didn't take up much time, so we had about 30 mins left and decided to head to the nearby Starbucks. On our way through Starbucks, we discovered that there was a shopping mall behind it...so we decided to walk around the mall in hopes of finding food (p.s. the school lunch is 不好。Too much shrimp, which no one likes). On the underground level of the mall, we headed to Paris Baguette and bought ourselves a cream cheese bread and other pastries. ("Goes to China and visits Paris Baguette" was a joke among us). 

Once we headed back to school from the museum, we celebrated the 4th of July with the Chinese host siblings by playing sports. Well, technically, the girls watched the guys play because it was too hot for us to do anything. (Seriously, it's so hot. I don't know how much I stress this. Hangzhou is known as one of the "hot pots" of China. Every time the guys finish playing soccer, their faces are completely red). After sports, we had cake and watermelon...and Angelo and Matthew once again serenaded us with "God Bless America" and "The Star's Spangled Banner". I'm not going to comment on their singing because well....yeah...

Saturday (July 6th)

Today, I traveled around 西湖 (West Lake) and Hangzhou with Angelo, Will, Isabel, and Isabel's host sister for a scavenger hunt. Our task was to go to famous places in Hangzhou (various temples, bridges, restaurants, etc) and take pictures of them. We also had to visit a supermarket, the wet market, the post office, the pharmacy, a restaurant and many other places. At the wet market, we had to find the price of various fruits, vegetables, and etc. At the pharmacy, we had to take pictures of us with various medicines, such as cough, cold and allergy meds. (I'm too lazy to explain the rest, but you guys get the idea). This was a really good experience for us because it allowed us to explore the city on our own and also forced us to utilize our Chinese; we aren't allowed to speak English. It was good practice for all four of us. Oh, we also had to ask for directions to 浙江大学 (Zhejiang University) in Chinese, which gave us quite a bit of trouble. The funny thing was that after we had gotten directions, this Chinese guy comes up to Will to ask him for directions to the same place. Will looks the most foreign out of us, so I hope you guys can see why it was funny to us...a native asking Will for directions--strangest thing ever .

For lunch, we had KFC. The KFC in China is so crowded; it was incredibly hard to find seats. I didn't eat anything from there, but Isabel and Angelo said that the chicken was way better than the chicken in the KFC in America. 

Oh also, on the way home from Zhejiang University, we saw boxes of condoms stuck to the wall. There were little vending machines that people can place money in to get condoms. Smart move putting it right by the University lol. After seeing this, Will told us how the condom boxes in the Hangzhou Walmart says "6 sexes" instead of "6 uses". China is just so direct and straightforward with things. 

Sunday (July 7th)

So apparently, today is China's Valentines Day, where the guy gives his crush something. The Chinese name for it is 七夕. I only know this because I have to do a presentation on it for 李老师's class next week. Besides Valentine's Day, China also has a ‘single's awareness day’ or 'loner's day'. This day occurs on Nov 11 (11/11) because of the number 1. In Chinese culture, you never give someone just 1 gift because it represents loneliness. (You also never give anyone 4 gifts because 4 in Chinese sounds too much like the Chinese word for "death").  Of course, 11/11 is not a real festival...my 老师 said that it was just something that this generation created because they were all really lonely. Hehe. 

Besides 七夕, my host family took me shopping today. We went to the supermarket, where they bought me durian, tons of orange juice, and soda...and this sausage that they told me to try. They just threw everything into the shopping cart, even though I told them I didn't want it because it was too expensive, especially the durian. The funny thing was that even though they bought a shopping cart full of stuff, it only came out to ~$68. Grocery shopping in Hawaii is never this cheap for the amount of stuff that they bought. 

When we got to the clothes, however, they were super expensive. This is something that I've learned while staying in Hangzhou: the food is cheap, but the clothes is expensive. My host mom said that the average cost for a dress in Hangzhou is around 500元，which is ~$83. Yeah...I guess no shopping for me. I told her about stores like Forever 21...about how the clothes in there cost around 15-30 USD, and she responded by saying that I can not buy any clothes with that amount of $$ in Hangzhou  l o l. This is what I get for wanting to shop in one of China's fashion meccas. Hopefully, I can go to one of those bargaining places and find cheaper clothes there. If I wanted to spend 500元 for a dress, I would do so back home. 

Oh and also, the ladies at the store complimented me on my Chinese. According to the shopkeepers, my host mom, Alex and my RD, my Chinese is pretty good (e.g. my Chinese pronunciation and accent of things). It's surprising how understandable my Chinese is and how the people here think it's pretty good. I don't know if they're just being polite, but yeah. LOL. It boosts my confidence in speaking Chinese. 

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Btw, here are some pictures I wasn't able to upload last time. Gmail only allows me to upload 2-3 pictures in each email.

My host mom (left), me (middle), and my host 妹妹 (right). Isn't my host sister tall? She's a year younger than me.

KTV with my fellow NSLI-Yers and our host siblings

Lynse: I can't figure out how to respond to comments, but I really miss you guys too! China is great; it's just really really hot and sticky every single day. I'm finally getting used to the bus system and I don't feel so nervous about taking the bus anymore. I don't know. I actually don't even feel like I'm in China because Hangzhou looks just like an American city....just with Chinese words, people, food and things. I hope your summer is going amazing(: When you get your school schedule, email me so we can compare classes! Oh, and I didn't open a stranger's door, but I tried to. It was the wrong door, of course, so my key wouldn't open it. That would be bad if I, somehow, opened someone else's door LOL. 

Until next time

Christine

Homesick...Sort of

I just really miss home right now...I don't even know why. I guess it's just because I've been so bored living in my host family's home. I mean, they're nice and all...but they don't really go out or do anything because my host mom works a lot, my host dad works in another city from Monday-Friday, and my sister always has homework (or she's always on the computer...btw, the host siblings all joined a QQ chat where they talk about the 美国人 (Americans) in it). I have literally fallen into a routine, which is something I absolutely hate l o l. Here is my normal day：

6:15 a.m. - 起床 (wake up, get out of bed, brush teeth, etc)
6:35 a.m. - 吃早饭 (eat breakfast)

6:55 a.m. - leave the apartment and walk to bus stop

7:05 a.m. - take the 303 公共汽车 (bus)

7:18 a.m. - 下车 (get off the 303) and take the 197 (which is also Will's bus)

7:40 a.m. - arrive at 我的学校 (my school) and hang out

8 a.m. - 中文课 (Chinese class) for 4 hours

12 p.m. - 午餐 (lunch)

1 p.m. - culture classes [we did 太极 (Tai chi) and 包饺子 (made dumplings),the other day. 我们今天有中国音乐课 (We had Chinese music class today)]

3 p.m. - explore 杭州 (Hangzhou) with the other 美国人 (Americans)

4 p.m. - walk a mile to my bus station and take the 303 bus back home

4:40 p.m. - reach the apartment and drink a ton of water

5 p.m. - 做功课 (do homework)

6:30 p.m. - 吃晚饭 (eat dinner)

7 p.m. - 做功课  (homework)

9 p.m. - 洗澡 (shower)

10:30 p.m. - 刷牙 (brush teeth) and get ready for bed

11 p.m. - 睡觉 (sleep)

I really wish I could go out exploring by myself or something, but I don't know the bus routes/city well enough to do so. Hopefully I'll be able to in time. 

Side note: the ice cream here is so cheap! There's a little shop in the back of the school that sells ice cream for 2 or 3 元, which is about $0.30-$0.50. Last night, my host sister and I (she's my 妹妹 lol...a year younger, but she's taller than me) went to this little store (it's like a 7-11) and I bought an orange drink for 3 元 (which is like $0.50). I have a feeling I'll be spending all my money on food and clothes. 

Until next time,

Christine

Surviving the Hangzhou Heat

Day 3 in China and I am already dying from the heat. It is scorching hot single every day. I honestly miss the weather in Hawaii a lot. Even though it's sunny in Hawaii, it's never this dry and humid. In China, I literally have to bring an umbrella with me everywhere I go to shield myself from the sun. I'm just so done with the weather here, lol. I don't know how people in China survive.

Anyways, I'll just go over what I've done in the past two days. Yesterday, we started Chinese classes for the first time. Somehow, I was placed in the middle-level class and not the beginning level class. This was shocking. I don't know how I got into the middle-level class, but it's intense. My class has two teachers: 李老师 and 张老师。I really love my teachers (and my classmates). They're not too strict, but they conduct the class in only Chinese...with some occasional English when no one understands what they are saying. On one hand, I'm really glad that the class is conducted in only Chinese because I really need to improve my listening and speaking skills. On the other hand, I have no clue what is going on for 50% of the class. The only person who even gets anything our teachers are saying is Ryan (Why are you in the middle-level class, Ryan? You should be in the advanced-level class!) So far, we've been working on our pronunciation and tone markings (We're apparently graded on how well we pronounce things in 李老师‘s class lol. I think I got a 8/10 for my pronunciation/participation today). 

After class yesterday, we went touring around Hangzhou. Technically, we stayed in an air-conditioned bus (because it was so hot) and drove around the city, while Angelo, Matthew and our tour guide serenaded us with various Chinese songs and the Star's Spangled Banner. Then we had dinner with our host siblings at Zhejiang University (it was a 15-course meal at a dim sum restaurant on the campus) and made an impromptu stop at a "nearby" KTV. KTV was so much fun. Because there was so much of us, we were split into two rooms. One of the host sisters started dancing to SNSD's "Oh!" and we all sang/danced to Gangnam Style. It was cute when one of the host brothers started singing to Justin Bieber. Oh! I also found out that my sister likes rap music and her favorite rapper is Eminem (I did not know this. Heck, her friends didn't even know this side of her). I think we left KTV at around 8 pm and took the taxi home. Thank god I didn't have much homework last night or I would have stayed up all night.

Today, I took the bus to school for the first time (with my host mom, of course). Gaah, I just hate the bus; there's no such thing as personal space here. The good thing about being Asian is that I fit right in because I would feel really uncomfortable if people were to stare at me all the time. After school, we had Tai Chi (which I, and the rest of the NSLI-Y kids...except Angelo, am terrible at) and toured the host institution's campus (High School Attached to Zhejiang University). When we finished the tour, about 10 of us explored the area around the school and bought ourselves candy and milk/bubble tea. It was an impromptu birthday celebration for Angelo, since his birthday is today. Happy 17th Birthday Angelo! 

I ended my day by taking the bus home by myself for the first time. I had only taken the bus home (with my host sister) once, so taking the bus by myself was a bit nerve-wracking. I got to the bus station just fine (which is like a 20-25 minute walks away from the host institution), but I had a hard time finding my bus stop. I had to ask this lady on the bus where to get off. This is how my conversation with her went:

Me: 对不起，这个是在哪儿？我是从夏威夷来的。第一次，我在杭州坐公车。(Sorry, where is this? I am from Hawaii. This is my first time on the bus in Hangzhou) -points to paper my host sister gave me-

Her: -looks at paper and says in English- Ahh, I don't know let me check. -goes to check the map of the route- I think it's the next one, but I will tell you when to get off! Where did you say you were from again?
Me: ah, 谢谢 (thank-you). And Hawaii

Her: Hawaii? How long have you been in China?
Me: 3 days

Her: Wooow, you're really brave! How long are you staying for? Why are you here?
Me: 6 weeks! 我学习中文 (I'm studying Chinese).
Her: At Zhejiang University?
Me: Ah, no...High school attached to Zhejiang University

Her: High school? wow (I think she was shocked I was still in High school and in China by myself l o l). -asked me in Chinese if my parents were Chinese)
Me: 我妈妈是中国人。 (My mom is Chinese). 

Her: 你的爸爸是什么人？ (What is your dad?)

Me: 我爸爸是越南人。 (My dad is Vietnamese)

Her: Ahh, all Asian 

Me: Yep!

Her: Okay you get off here! 再见 (bye!) -smiles-
Me: 谢谢，再见！

All in all, it was an eventful day. I ended up having to call my host sister for help because I forgot which door inside the apartment building was ours. I accidentally tried opening someone else's door. Oops. I hope no one was home or else they might have thought someone was breaking into their house. Anyways, I gotta go finish homework. 

Until next time,

Christine