Saturday (August 3)
Matthew's birthday was on this day, and his host family brought us KTV-ing. I got to witness Matthew's host mom and host brother, Sander, sing. Pretty interesting :)
Alex's host sister was also there, so I tried my best to interact with her since she's incredibly shy towards everyone else. I'm not sure if I already mentioned this or not, but Alex's host sister is an EXO fan. And she somehow got my number and started texting me about them one day. I'm not kidding. It was so random too, but I'm always happy to meet another EXO fan ;3 In order to make her feel more comfortable, Alex and I tried getting her to sing EXO songs with me. We sang "What is Love" and "Wolf" (with Haley and Alex doing back-up for the "awooo" and "saranghaeyo" part haha). In the end, I was the only one who sang. Alex's host sister was too shy to sing, and she would always push the mic away. Oh wells. At least I can cross off singing to EXO at KTV, and they even played the original music videos!! Hahahahaha, the life of a fangirl.
Besides EXO songs, Haley, Matthew and I also rapped "Look At Me Now". We are boss at that song. Alex was staring at us the whole time, hehe. Surprised at my rapping skills! Whaaaat, haha. "Thrift Shop" also came out, but none of the Chinese host siblings knew the song...so the Americans sang it alone. My host sister rapped another Eminem song with Matthew. She has an interesting taste in music. Her two favorite artists are Avril Lavigne (apparently she's super popular in China) and Eminem. (Oh, funny story. I was discussing my host sister's artist preferences with Alex one day during class. While I was explaining to her how much she loves Eminem, Michelle butts in with "Me too! But I like skittles better". Alex and I had a good laugh about it after explaining to Michelle that we were talking about the rapper and not the candy).
The only person missing from the party was Michelle. She was supposed to come, but she got lost on the way to the KTV place. We called her and this was what she said, "I was on the bus to the KTV, but I got lost. But I ended up at a really nice mall now, so I don't think I'll be coming to your party." Oh gosh, you can never leave Michelle alone on the bus. She'll end up at a mall and buy millions and millions of socks.
After we finished KTV-ing, the party group headed back to Sander/Matthew's host and ate dinner. Sander's dad cooked so much food! And it was all so delicious too.
When dinner was over, it was time to open presents! Haley got Matthew these hideous shorts from Walmart, which you will all see in the pictures below. Sander's presents were the best of them all. He got Matthew a terabyte usb with all of his favorite Archer episodes (How can you even like that show Matthew?! It's so bad) , and three shirts. The first shirt was from Zhejiang University. The second shirt was the China flag in a shape of the Apple logo. The last shirt was definitely the best. Matthew has this nickname that was given to him by his AP Calc class, I believe? And the nickname is "Foldonium." The last shirt is a customized shirt with a picture of the Baidu search engine. In the search bar, "Foldonium" is typed in and all of these cute search results show up underneath. It was a really cute gift. The moment Matthew saw the shirt, he was so shocked...and it was just so emotional. Such a heartfelt moment between him and his host brother. Sander started crying in the middle of all of this. Alex and I started crying, too, as a result of seeing him cry. It was really touching ;___;
We went park dancing again after this. All of us. We even joined in a dance with these old ladies -- you join hands and run around in a circle together. It's way more fun than it sounds :) Matthew even got all of the Chinese host sisters to tango with him: Nancy (Haley's host sister), Estella (my host sister), and even Alex's host sister (who is extremely shy).
By the time we left, it was already 10 pm (NSLI-Y's curfew, whoops). My host sister had a fun time though, which I was happy about. I was afraid she would be uncomfortable during the whole party. But she participated in a lot of the activities!
I honestly wanted so badly to sleep, but I knew I had to work on my final project first, or else I would never finish. And it was due on Monday. Yikes! Don't procrastinate like I did. My host parents were gracious enough to stay up with me and help me with my presentation. I did mine on Chinese park dancing. I am forever grateful for my host parents. They're seriously the best ;___; My host sister was falling asleep...and I saw her post about it on QQ (too bad I can't get on QQ anymore l o l. It logged me out because of inactivity and I don't remember my password anymore, so I'm screwed)
Sunday (August 4)
I don't know why, but I was extremely moody that day. I spent the whole morning eating ice cream while working on my Chinese presentation.
Evening was spent with my host family. They took me out to see the Grand Canal, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site like West Lake. The Canal connects all the way from Beijing, with over 18 cities along its bank. It's supposedly the longest man-made waterway in the world!
We walked around for an hour or two, but everything was closed (all of the museums - fan, knife, umbrella, etc) because we got there so late. I wanted to leave at this point. I know I should have enjoyed it more, but it was so humid and I felt so sticky. Plus, my shoes and socks were soaked by the rain puddles on the floor. I had to throw my socks away before getting into my host dad's car. I was just really irritated and did not want to see anymore of the canal.
Because my shoes were ruined by the rain, my host family brought me the shoe mall that Alex, Michelle and I went to before. It was close to closing time, so we ran inside the mall as fast as we could. We walked around for a bit, but there was nothing I liked. Chinese shoes are a bit...weird. When it was five minutes to closing, I got so desperate that I bought the first pair of flats I found. To say the least, it was hideous. But my host mom and sister thought it was cute lol. It had ears and eyes resembling a pig. I needed new shoes though, and it was only $4...so it was the best I could find. Plus, staying in my old flats was not an option. The water made it smell so bad. After I payed for the pig flats, I started browsing the store next to it for fun. I found this really cute pair of flats with blue stripes on it. I bought it on an impulse because it was so cute, and I'm really glad I did. It was only $5, and I wear it almost everywhere I go here in Hawaii. Unlike my old flats, this new one is so comfy, so bonus points!
Once my host sister and I bought our shoes, we drove over to this super nice restaurant. It was booked out, so we walked over to another one.
My host parents saw how much I liked eating the duck eggs/thousand year-old eggs and the duck blood (brown things) in the soup that they bought and made it for me to eat during the next couple of dinners. They are too nice to me.
The best part about the restaurant was its restroom. The sink looked really fancy, and there were western toilets!! That's how you can tell if the restaurant is fancy and expensive or not...it's if there is a western toilet. This was my first time seeing a western toilet in a public place, so I got kind of excited.
After eating all of that good food, we ventured out into the square nearby to walk off all of the weight we just gained. The park we went to was so pretty. You could see little kids roller skating and blowing bubbles around this gigantic field of lights, and there were also people dancing nearby!
When I came home, I had to work on my presentation again because it was due the next day. I think I finished around 12:30 a.m or so. While working on my presentation, I got really sad. It finally hit me that I had only one week left in Hangzhou. I honestly didn't want to leave, haha.
Matthew's birthday was on this day, and his host family brought us KTV-ing. I got to witness Matthew's host mom and host brother, Sander, sing. Pretty interesting :)
 |
| Birthday boy |
Besides EXO songs, Haley, Matthew and I also rapped "Look At Me Now". We are boss at that song. Alex was staring at us the whole time, hehe. Surprised at my rapping skills! Whaaaat, haha. "Thrift Shop" also came out, but none of the Chinese host siblings knew the song...so the Americans sang it alone. My host sister rapped another Eminem song with Matthew. She has an interesting taste in music. Her two favorite artists are Avril Lavigne (apparently she's super popular in China) and Eminem. (Oh, funny story. I was discussing my host sister's artist preferences with Alex one day during class. While I was explaining to her how much she loves Eminem, Michelle butts in with "Me too! But I like skittles better". Alex and I had a good laugh about it after explaining to Michelle that we were talking about the rapper and not the candy).
The only person missing from the party was Michelle. She was supposed to come, but she got lost on the way to the KTV place. We called her and this was what she said, "I was on the bus to the KTV, but I got lost. But I ended up at a really nice mall now, so I don't think I'll be coming to your party." Oh gosh, you can never leave Michelle alone on the bus. She'll end up at a mall and buy millions and millions of socks.
After we finished KTV-ing, the party group headed back to Sander/Matthew's host and ate dinner. Sander's dad cooked so much food! And it was all so delicious too.
When dinner was over, it was time to open presents! Haley got Matthew these hideous shorts from Walmart, which you will all see in the pictures below. Sander's presents were the best of them all. He got Matthew a terabyte usb with all of his favorite Archer episodes (How can you even like that show Matthew?! It's so bad) , and three shirts. The first shirt was from Zhejiang University. The second shirt was the China flag in a shape of the Apple logo. The last shirt was definitely the best. Matthew has this nickname that was given to him by his AP Calc class, I believe? And the nickname is "Foldonium." The last shirt is a customized shirt with a picture of the Baidu search engine. In the search bar, "Foldonium" is typed in and all of these cute search results show up underneath. It was a really cute gift. The moment Matthew saw the shirt, he was so shocked...and it was just so emotional. Such a heartfelt moment between him and his host brother. Sander started crying in the middle of all of this. Alex and I started crying, too, as a result of seeing him cry. It was really touching ;___;
 |
| Sander and Matthew hugging |
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| Aww, group hug. Bonding time between the Americans and our host siblings. |
By the time we left, it was already 10 pm (NSLI-Y's curfew, whoops). My host sister had a fun time though, which I was happy about. I was afraid she would be uncomfortable during the whole party. But she participated in a lot of the activities!
I honestly wanted so badly to sleep, but I knew I had to work on my final project first, or else I would never finish. And it was due on Monday. Yikes! Don't procrastinate like I did. My host parents were gracious enough to stay up with me and help me with my presentation. I did mine on Chinese park dancing. I am forever grateful for my host parents. They're seriously the best ;___; My host sister was falling asleep...and I saw her post about it on QQ (too bad I can't get on QQ anymore l o l. It logged me out because of inactivity and I don't remember my password anymore, so I'm screwed)
Sunday (August 4)
I don't know why, but I was extremely moody that day. I spent the whole morning eating ice cream while working on my Chinese presentation.
 |
| There's a banana in the middle of the ice cream bar! |
Because my shoes were ruined by the rain, my host family brought me the shoe mall that Alex, Michelle and I went to before. It was close to closing time, so we ran inside the mall as fast as we could. We walked around for a bit, but there was nothing I liked. Chinese shoes are a bit...weird. When it was five minutes to closing, I got so desperate that I bought the first pair of flats I found. To say the least, it was hideous. But my host mom and sister thought it was cute lol. It had ears and eyes resembling a pig. I needed new shoes though, and it was only $4...so it was the best I could find. Plus, staying in my old flats was not an option. The water made it smell so bad. After I payed for the pig flats, I started browsing the store next to it for fun. I found this really cute pair of flats with blue stripes on it. I bought it on an impulse because it was so cute, and I'm really glad I did. It was only $5, and I wear it almost everywhere I go here in Hawaii. Unlike my old flats, this new one is so comfy, so bonus points!
Once my host sister and I bought our shoes, we drove over to this super nice restaurant. It was booked out, so we walked over to another one.
My host family kept ordering me so much food. They bought around five to six plates of Hangzhou cuisine, including sweet-and-sour fish, soup, pumpkin crisps (SO GOOD omg), and many more. It was all so delicious. I wanted to finish everything, but my belly was about to burst. They also kept ordering more and more juice for me. The juice in Hangzhou (or just China in general) is really fresh. My host dad ordered watermelon and cantaloupe juice, and it came straight from the fruit. You could taste the pulp and everything, which is why it wasn't as sweet...but that's just because it's the fruit juice itself with no preservatives or corn syrup. I felt so bad because they just kept ordering stuff for me, and it was all so expensive ;___; I wish I could've finished everything, but there was just too much. I hate wasting food.
My host parents saw how much I liked eating the duck eggs/thousand year-old eggs and the duck blood (brown things) in the soup that they bought and made it for me to eat during the next couple of dinners. They are too nice to me.
The best part about the restaurant was its restroom. The sink looked really fancy, and there were western toilets!! That's how you can tell if the restaurant is fancy and expensive or not...it's if there is a western toilet. This was my first time seeing a western toilet in a public place, so I got kind of excited.
After eating all of that good food, we ventured out into the square nearby to walk off all of the weight we just gained. The park we went to was so pretty. You could see little kids roller skating and blowing bubbles around this gigantic field of lights, and there were also people dancing nearby!
When I came home, I had to work on my presentation again because it was due the next day. I think I finished around 12:30 a.m or so. While working on my presentation, I got really sad. It finally hit me that I had only one week left in Hangzhou. I honestly didn't want to leave, haha.
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