Week 5 in Hangzhou Pt. 1

Hello all! I'm finally back after a hectic fall semester. Time literally flies by so fast -- I'll be finishing up senior year in less than five months! So so excited :) But enough rambling, the main point of this post is to keep track of what I did during my 5th week in Hangzhou. I'll be putting week 5 and week 6 in different posts because there is a lot to talk about.

I am actually super thankful that I blogged while I was in China. Why? Well, it's been almost five months since I left Hangzhou, and my memory is beginning to get a bit hazy. I've been hesitating to blog about my last few weeks in Hangzhou because I can't remember a lot of things. But thank god I took pictures, and my phone tells me exactly when they were taken. Hooray for modern technology! I also have my trusty Chinese school schedule to help me as well. Better to update now than never, so that I'll have something to look back on years from now.

Tuesday (July 30)

The most memorable thing I can remember from that day was my bus ride home. To start, instead of taking only 30 minutes, I ended up riding the bus for a whole two hours. Why? Being the idiotic person that I am, I wondered what would happen if I stayed on the bus past my bus stop. Naturally, I thought the bus would make a complete circle around the city. I mean, I take the 303 to school and back home (using two different bus stops though). They must be on the same bus route (because it's the same bus, duh)! But no, I was wrong. It was on the same bus route, but I had to "transfer" buses (and waste bus fare). 

At first, I was a bit hesitant to stay on the bus. I didn't know where the next bus stop was nor how long it would take to get there. Being the person that I am, however, I let my curious instincts take over the situation and decided to stay on the bus. Stupid mistake. The next bus stop was all the way across the bridge from my house (I really should have listened to my host mom. She wasn't kidding when she said that if I missed my bus stop, I would have a hard time getting home -- walking is definitely not an option). As the bus kept moving, the scenery started changing as well. It literally went from city to country lol. Less houses and more dirt/farmland. I had no idea where I was going, but of course, I wasn't too fazed because I THOUGHT the bus was going to turn around. I stayed on the bus for another hour until it came down to the last stop -- the bus station. At this point, no one else was on the bus except for me and the bus driver. Being that this was the last stop, I had to get off. And where was this bus stop? It was in the middle of NOWHERE. It looked really sketchy too. There was nothing but dirt, grass and trash. And the bus driver left me...so I was all alone. Scared out of my mind, I phoned my host mom. She freaked out for a bit, but told me to just get on the next bus back into the city. I took her advice and waited for 10 minutes. Finally, the bus driver came out from his resting area and started the same bus again. And it was a different bus driver too! Thank gosh. I don't think I could deal with the embarrassment if it had been the same bus driver. How could I explain to him that I was on the bus again? Especially after I made it seem that I had somewhere to go after I stepped off the bus, haha. Anyways, I went back on the bus and rode for another hour or so before finally reaching my apartment. 

I got home later than I originally wanted to, but I guess that's partially my fault. At least I now know where the bus goes to after my bus stop. And now I know you have to transfer buses because there are two main bus stations for the 303 bus -- the one across from Huanglong Stadium and the one in the middle of nowhere. I will definitely keep that in mind if I ever decide to take the bus in Hangzhou again. Also, I got a cheap tour around part of Hangzhou (even though I saw mostly grass and construction), so I guess it wasn't too bad. Bus adventures are always fun in foreign countries, am I right?

Wednesday (July 31)

Field trip to Leifeng Pagoda! It was extremely windy at the top of Leifeng, but the wind felt so nice after all of the heat we had been experiencing. I think I saw lightning strike maybe about 4 times from up there? And thunder kept roaring every 30 minutes or so. It was frightening, yet fascinating. It looked like it was about to rain, but the rain didn't come. There were only grey clouds everywhere. Regardless, the view was still really pretty! I could see over West Lake and all of the mountains surrounding it.

Credit to Angelo for this last photo!

When I came home, I did a little bit of online shopping ;) I literally spent 4 hours searching Taobao -- one of the greatest shopping sites known to man-kind. I bought so much stuff (2 dresses, tons of K-pop stuff for my friends, two TonyMoly cooling sticks for my eyes, a backpack, a bunch of hair ties and bows, etc) and it only came out $40. And shipping is great too. It came about 3 days later! If only things would ship that fast to Hawaii... If anyone knows any good Taobao agents, holla at me! I  miss shopping on Taobao so much. Ebay just doesn't even compare.

At around 7 pm, the sky got really dark. Thunder started pounding across the city and there were consecutive lightning strikes. Looking out of the window, I was incredibly scared for my life, haha. It rains and thunders in Hawaii, but never this hard. I didn't  think thunder could even get this loud and powerful. It felt like the source of the thunder and lightning strike was right outside my apartment window. Apparently this was a man-made/artificial rainfall, though? Because it got so hot over the summer, the Chinese government resorted to shooting weather missiles into the sky, causing rain to fall. That is some serious business. It was so hot that rain had to be CREATED. Crazy.

Friday (August 2)
5th Friday! This meant it was time for another 友谊 (friendship) activity with the host siblings. And what was the fun activity this time around? Majiang/Mahjong! Woo! I didn't know how to play Mahjong (and I still don't), so I just watched the host siblings play with Francesca and the other NSLI-Y kids on my table. Francesca tried teaching me, but I don't think that turned out so well. I just came out more confused than before.

cr: Angelo

After mahjong, the Panda Pack (Haley, Michelle, Alex, and I) wanted to go back to the mall by Michelle's place and buy some food. I asked my host sister to come along, but my host mom said no. :/

Ugh, so the noodles guy really pissed us off that day. After buying our food, the workers in the noodle shop made us sit in their shop. We wanted the noodles to go, but they had already put our food down on the table. After enjoying our noodles and eating some meat-on-a-stick, we wanted to leave. But we ran into some problems. Knowing that we were foreigners, the workers tried ripping us off. They made a huge scene about us not paying them for our meal, even though we did pay for it! We paid for our food right after we received it. We kept arguing and arguing over it, but in the end, we just gave up. It was no use trying to argue with them because what could we do? Our Chinese was not good enough to call them out for cheating us out of our money. And I know for a fact they intentionally ripped us off because they kept asking each other where we were from. And one of them kept repeating "美国! 美国! 美国!" I hope they know that we could actually understand them...ugh. Even though we had to fork over another 24 yuan (which doesn't seem like much because it's equivalent to about $4), that amount goes a long way in China, seriously. So pissed. We all hypothesized that this is the reason why Chinese people are so cheap LOL. I'm kidding. But here we were, sulking over losing $4. They even charged us again for the water. I will get you back darn noodle guys! You better watch your backs >:(

After losing our heads about getting ripped off, we decided it was time to leave. No more business for the noodle guys from us! ...Even if your noodles were pretty darn good too! We don't give business to people who rip us off, pfft.

On the way to Sander's house, Michelle was starting to get riled up. First time I've ever seen her like this. "WHY CAN'T PEOPLE JUST DRIVE ON THE ROAD?!?!" Michelle screamed as the scooters and motorbikes whizzed next to us,  taking up the sidewalk we were on. Her outburst was actually pretty hilarious. Oh Michelle. What would we do without you?

Arriving at Sander's house, we found out that Matthew and Sander weren't there. They were still at the Thai restaurant with Rachel. Thinking they were going to come back real soon, Haley, Michelle and I decided to wait it out in Sander's room. Sander's dad came in to keep us company, but he just kept asking us questions about school and SATs. Haley and I just looked at each other like "noooo, please not this talk again." Let me just say that this talk went on for another 2-3 hours. By the time Sander and Matthew came back, the three of us were done. We just wanted to go home. Michelle left first, while Haley and I walked around the streets nearby Sander's house. We got ourselves a Strawberry ice drink before calling a taxi to take us home. The first taxi that stopped for us looked really sketchy. It was so sketchy that Haley and I did not want to take it at all...so we ran away and hid behind these two black cars. LOL. After 5 minutes of hiding, we came out again and saw that the same taxi was still there. Two other people wanted to get into the taxi, but the taxi driver kept insisting that Haley and I were there first. We didn't want to tell him that we didn't want to get in though, so we just kept standing there...until another taxi cab came. And this one looked more legit! We ran into the second taxi cab as fast as we could and had him drive away before the other taxi driver could call us back. 

I'm Alive!

I realize it's been a while since I've posted (almost 3 months!), and I know I haven't posted about my last week in Hangzhou yet. Things just got really hectic after landing back on the islands, especially with school starting the day after I returned. I promise I will get those posts/pictures up by the end of 2013. I already have them up on Facebook, but I might as well share it with the rest of the internet...just in case some prospective NSLI-Y applicants happen to stumble upon my blog (c'mon, pictures are the best). It might take a while to write, since my memory is kind of hazy at the moment. I do, however, have a lot of stories to share :) since the last week was filled with tons of activities and events.

Unfortunately, I chose not to apply for the year program. Summer in Hangzhou was definitely fun, but I don't think the year program is right for me. I'll be back in China during college :) Good luck to everyone applying, though! I did some PR at my school and managed to get my 5 little juniors to apply for the program(; (3 for Korea, 1 for China, and 1 for Russia). Hoping them and all of you the best of luck!

I'll be back in December with stories from the last week of my trip, which includes Matthew's birthday, getting ripped off for noodles, visiting a night market, hanging out on the roof of Sander's house, graduation, and many more!

Until next time,
Christine

Some pictures before I go? 

Getting my haircut at some sketchy barbershop!

Making jiaozi

In front of West Lake. Isn't it pretty?

After Tai Chi back in Week 1

I basically stole these photos from Angelo's collection of 20304333 China photos....and I might've taken some from Michelle and Alex as well, hehe.

Goodbye Hangzhou!

I apologize for not updating within the last week. I wanted to enjoy as much of Hangzhou as I could before I left. Right now, I am sitting in a hotel room in Chicago by myself. At this time, some of the NSLI-Y kids have already reached their respective states, while others are probably on their connecting flight back home right now. My flight back to Hawaii isn't until 10 a.m. tomorrow, so I figured I'd give a short update now. A more in-depth account of the past 2 weeks will come within the next week or so while the memory is still fresh in my mind. More pictures will also come as well, since I can access Blogspot now!

Today was just...emotional. Many tears were shed and many hugs were given. I miss Hangzhou and China so much right now. I miss my host family, teachers, friends, host institution, Chinese ice cream, Chinese buses, and so much more. Don't get me wrong...I am excited to go back home and see my family/friends...but six weeks is just way too short. If only the trip was a little longer...

But this won't be the last time I will be in China. I promised my family and friends back in Hangzhou that I will come back one day, and I intend to keep that promise (Sander even said: "You know you'll always be welcomed in my house"). I will miss (I already do) everyone from the trip, but I know we'll all see each other again in the future(: (LA reunion next year, wooo!)

Until next time,
Christine

More Pictures

Here are some pictures I've taken over the last 5 weeks.

Last picture was from PDO Day 2

Where is Sander's Apartment Again?

Monday (July 29)

We had Chinese martial arts as our culture class today. Matthew was the dummy that the instructor used and he basically got his ass kicked. I have videos of this too, so I'll be posting those when I get home. I have videos of Matthew getting his ass kicked by the instructor, by Ryan (his Kungfu classes with his host brother every morning before school really paid off), and by Olive (sort of). 

After culture class, Ryan, Isabel, Michelle and I took the 118 to 文二路 and walked about 4 blocks before we got to the stationary store. I don't think Ryan liked the stationary store too much, but for us girls, it was heaven. I bought about 11 more pens today. I'm that crazy about Chinese stationary items. I was also on the lookout for the guys that were at the corner on Saturday, but luckily they weren't there today.

Since it was only 3 pm when we finished shopping, I decided to head to Sander's (Matthew's host brother) apartment by myself. I've only been to his house once, but I figured I should just try. The only thing was...I walked for about 30 mins and didn't know where I was. I used Isabel's map to trace back the 118 bus stops (because the 118 takes you near his house), but nothing looked familiar when I walked there. I found myself on the map by matching the Chinese words on the map to the signs on the street, but I didn't have Sander's address. I was basically relying on landmarks to take me there. I was going to walk until I found landmarks or places that looked familiar. I did this for another 20 minutes until I decided that I was completely lost. I tried calling Michelle, Isabel, Alex, Haley and Matthew for help, but no one picked up their phone. I also didn't have Sander's number. I tried calling my host sister for help and she QQ'd Sander, but Sander didn't reply to the QQ. At my last attempt, I called Will for help. Luckily, he was able to google map my present position by having me read the Chinese signs on the street. I was also grateful that he actually knew what Sander's address was. Using google map, Will told me where to go.

After 20 minutes of walking, I finally reached Sander's apartment with Will's help. The only thing was...I couldn't get into the apartment. You needed a key to get into the lobby of the apartment. Of course, no one picked up their phone...so I couldn't just call someone to come down and open the door for me. I tried using the back door that Matthew used last time, but that was locked. In the end, I waited outside for 15 mins before someone came into the building. I followed him from behind, pretending that I lived in the building. 

When I got to Sander's door on the 6th floor, I was going to knock and ring the doorbell...but the door was open, so I just went in, ran to Sander's room, and broke down into tears and laughter (I started to half cry and half laugh). Apparently, I gave Alex a huge shock because she started screaming when I came in. Haley, Sander and Matthew were also really surprised. They were wondering how I got in. I told them I got lost and had been walking for two hours just to find Sander's house. Sander's mom came in during this time and asked me if I was okay. I had to explain to her that I had just gotten lost...and that was it. Luckily, Sander's mom was gracious enough to let me stay l o l. She even allowed me to stay for dinner. Heck, Sander's parents are so chill. They told Matthew to bring over all of his friends.

Left to Right: Matthew, Sander, Alex, Sander's mom, Haley

After dinner, the five of us went dancing at the park near the apartment. The ladies there were really mean....just saying. They pushed Haley and whacked me in the side while dancing just because we were laughing. I think they thought that we were laughing at them...but we really weren't. We were laughing at ourselves for being unable to keep up with the dance steps. Oh wells. We just decided to leave the dancing after that to head over to the karaoke happening in the park. 

Matthew and Sander exercising their bromance

We arrived back at Sander's apartment at around 9:15 pm. I stayed for another 45 mins, eating watermelon, taking pictures, and talking to Sander's parents. Apparently, Sander's mom had told his dad about me getting lost on the way to Sander's house because he questioned me about it, haha. At 10 pm, I decided to head home because it was hitting the NSLI-Y curfew...and I didn't want to be out this late on a school night. Alex got a taxi for me and I was on my way home.

The taxi driver I had tonight was really talkative. He asked me questions about my parents, if I could sing in English, and if I was from Korea. Apparently, I look Korean? What? I told him, "不，我是从美国" (No, I am from America). I also explained to him that my mom is Chinese and my dad is Vietnamese. He was really intrigued by the fact that my family has three different nationalities running through our veins. He was like: "Your mom is Chinese, your dad is Vietnamese, but you live in America? Hahahahaha". He also asked me how old I was. When I told him I was 17 and studying Chinese in Hangzhou, he was so surprised. This was my second time riding the taxi by myself, and it was a surprisingly pleasant experience. I really liked this experience because it allowed me to practice my Chinese skills, since the whole conversation was in Chinese. I feel incredibly proud of myself. 

I arrived at the apartment in 15 mins (taxi ride was only ￥13) and promptly went to my room to study for tomorrow's dictation. I only studied for 10 mins before I showered and crashed. Surprisingly, I got 100% on my dictation~ Woo!  我非常高兴。

便宜 is my Favorite Word Pt. 3

Friday (July 26)

I forgot to mention in my last post that a cockroach appeared during 张老师's class. It was huge and disgusting. My class spent 15 minutes screaming our heads off and trying to kill it. It was 7 girls against 1 roach. Pretty funny if you ask me. I have a video of  the battle, but I'll upload and post that when I return to Hawaii. After lunch, the NSLI-Y group headed to Lingyin Temple for a cultural excursion. It was interesting, but incredibly hot. Oh, something I forgot to mention was that yesterday was, apparently, the hottest day in Hangzhou since...forever. It was the hottest day, yet I walked an hour to Michelle's place just to go dancing l o l. 

Saturday (July 27)

Michelle, Alex and I went to the stationary store today. I found out that the stationary store is only 2 blocks away from my house, so I decided to walk there. First, I met up with Alex at the bus stop a block away from the store. When we walked closer to the store, the strangest thing happened. There were young guys (they looked around 19 or 20) handing out advertisements. When we got closer to them, one of the guys came up to me and started pushing the flyers in my face. When I told him "不要" over and over again, he grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him. At the same time, he was speaking Chinese to me, but I couldn't understand him. Alex started hitting his arm to get him away from me.  Later, I found out that he was calling me 妹妹 (little sister) the whole time. Why? I don't know. That  guy was crazy. 

When we got to the stationary store, we met up with Michelle. She brought us to the place she bought her stationary items from. Let me tell you guys, the place is HEAVEN. There were so many pens, white-out, erasers, paper, and many more for dirt cheap! The pens were all ￥2-3 each. How cheap is that? That is less than $0.50 per pen. I think I bought around 5 white-outs, 3 pencil cases, 3 stationary paper sets, 25 pens, and 3 erasers. The total came out to about￥120, which is about $20.  

Michelle and I literally spent 3 hours in the stationary store. Alex left us to go buy her stamp. When she came back, we were still in the same store. She had to pry us away from all of these cute stationary items! Ah, I love China. I stocked up on pens and etc for my friends back home. All of the pens are the extra fine-tip ones, too-- perfect for writing Chinese characters! 

When we left the store and walked back to the front, the guys that harassed Alex and I were still there. When one of the guys (the one that held onto my arm) saw me again, he opened his arms (like someone waiting for a hug) and ran to me. Needless to say, I shouted "不要" and ran away. Those guys were incredibly creepy. I just wish I could understand what he was saying to me in Chinese. The strangest thing was that the guy was only harassing me...and not Alex or Michelle. I don't understand. 

When I got home, I skyped with my friends back home. I basically showed them all of the items that I bought from the stationary store and allowed them to choose which one they wanted. At 7:30 pm, my host mom, sister and I went dancing in the park again. It was fun~

Sunday (July 28)

Unfortunately, I did not do much today. I stayed home and read Jane Eyre for my homework for school back home. 

Fun in the 图书馆 Pictures

Fun in the 图书馆

Friday (July 26)

李老师 is literally the best teacher in the whole world! During his class, all we did was watch Kungfu Panda 2  (in Chinese of course). We even moved the blue chairs up and pushed back our work tables aside, so that it resembled a real movie theater. The only thing missing was food, especially popcorn. Class was so amazing today. 

Side note: Ryan is no longer our class because he moved up to the advanced class. Now, our class comprises of 6 girls: me, Haley, Michelle, Alex, Kaelin and Olive. 

After school, Angelo, Xochitl (I'm sorry if I spelled it wrong) and I decided to explore the Zhejiang library, which is also the chief topic of this post. First, we visited the Zhejiang library for adults. The library is huge; it's 3 stories! There are so many rooms and hallways (even an auditorium). I, honestly, had a lot of fun exploring the library. For one, we stalked sleeping people in there. There was this one guy sleeping by the stairways, and Angelo tried taking a picture of him...but the guy woke up before we got the picture (we wanted a picture of the guy's sleeping face), so it was awkward. Angelo and Xochitl ran away and hid from him. It was incredibly funny. The guy stared at us like: "Wtf just happened?" He was still trying to process what was going on after waking up from his deep slumber. Another guy (that we ran past  to hide from the sleeping guy) was laughing at us while talking on his phone. The second thing happened when the three of us stepped into the most crowded part of the library (it's where all the students gather there to study and do homework...and when I say it's crowded, I mean it. It was filled with Chinese teens. There were no free tables at all...and the room is huge). When we walked into the room, I stepped on a rug and it made this farting sound. Embarrassing much? Especially since the room was COMPLETELY SILENT, and then all of a sudden there was this farting sound (which sounded really real, btw）that appeared out of nowhere. Angelo thought the sound came from Xochitl. After this, I just couldn't keep my face straight. We just kept laughing and all of the Chinese students in the room stared at us, so we had to leave. Well, I had to leave. Angelo and Xochitl just followed me out. Oh, how immature our humor is. Sorry if this did not sound funny at all.

Besides stalking people and creating trouble, we also tried searching for books in English. The only books that they have in English are about politics, the economy, and etc. I found it interesting that the library also had books in Japanese and there was a section dedicated solely to Chinese versions of Japanese manga (and natural science!). I don't even think we explored every single room in the library. 

After we visited the library for adults, the three of us went to the children's library next door. I really like the children's library; I like it more than the adult one because it's nicer. The children's library is three stories tall and the furniture/bookshelf/decor looks really modern and edgy. I like the feel and atmosphere of the library. Honestly, I don't care if the library is meant for children. I would rather do my homework in that library than in the adult library any day. The children's library also has really comfy couches and chairs. I could stay there all day. One thing that's really cute is that the bathroom in this library has teeny squat potties and sinks for the toddlers.  

Doesn't the children's library look so nice?! It has a very modern feel to it. I love it in here.