Initiate Plan B...

Today was another one of those beautiful days where I got to sleep in for as long as I wanted (although because I went to bed early last night, I also woke up at 10 to 8, which wasn't so nice.) But since I was rested, and no one else was awake, I just checked my emails, and did some house keeping kind of things. The rest of the family (my dad and my sister) woke up not to long after me, so I could start moving around the house (I like to stay in my room until everyone else wakes up.)

I told my dad that me, my sister, and my friends were going to the concert, and he was fine with it. (I did it in Chinese as well, thank you very much.) So we all did our own thing for most of the morning. My thing included writing my Yale/Harvard essay (which is a nicer version of a blog from a Thursday, in case you were wondering), and various other things that are not nearly important enough to write about. I didn't even get out of my PJ's until around 11 though, if that is any indication of my day. (Funny story. Because I slept with my hair wet last night, when I woke up this morning it was out of control. But I didn't brush it because I didn't have to see any one. I also forgot that my hair was out of control when my mom called me via Skype - which, for those of you that don't know, has a camera. I still didn't remember that my hair was a mess until my mom said "God, what happened to you?" and then started laughing. Thanks mom. I feel the love.)

Lunch today was really good. I have not the foggiest idea what it was, but it tasted like slightly fried noodles, some cabbage thing, and I think beef (牛肉). It's funny, I now think of beef as it's Chinese name rather than English. I had to think for a second what it was called. Oops. Anyways, that was really yummy, even if I had to eat it with chopsticks (but I am pretty good at using chopsticks now, on the bright side.) We also had this egg and green onion soup thing that my dad gave us as our drink, and a beef pita thing, that was so much better than it sounds. Overall, it was a very satisfying meal.

After lunch, not much happened, as I was getting ready to go out. I really need to go shopping, because I didn't bring very many shirts. (Actually, my sister said she knew a place that was inexpensive, so I am foreseeing a sister bonding trip sometime in the near future...) But I pulled some clothes on, and we were out the door. She actually didn't know what bus to take to get to school, so we relied on my knowledge, which thankfully didn't let me down. We met Chris, Sterling and Jamie at school, picked up Hannah on the way, and walked towards the bus stop. It wasn't until we got to the 3rd Ring Road (one of the main roads in Beijing, which is close to both our school and the bus stop) that Sterling got a frantic call from Gavin (another friend) who said that he got on the wrong bus, and was in a taxi trying to get to school. Halfway through the conversation, Sterling just passed the phone to me, and I passed it to Chris, who passed it to Hannah. Poor Gavin, he was having a hard time finding us (it took him about 15 minutes.) But all was well, because eventually we found him, and we all got on the bus together.

About halfway through our bus ride to the concert, we all realized that we didn't know where we were going. So we politely asked the door attendant on the bus (or I should say, my sister asked) to tell us when to get off. Throughout the ride, we kept asking my sister questions in Chinese, and Chris would tell her to listen to some Chinese song he had. It was a fun bus ride, although there was no singing.

The afternoon was actually rather anticlimactic. Once we got to where the concert was, we saw that the line was ridiculously long, and decided not to stand in line (as it turns out, people were waiting in line for over an hour, so we made the right choice.) Instead, we went to the park across the road for a while, and played on the jungle gym, taking pictures and recordings as we went. I called a friend who was also at the music festival to see if he was in line (and could therefore buy us tickets...) but he was already inside, so that was a bust.

After that things got a little interesting. Hannah decided that she didn't want to stay in the park for hours just messing around, and I agreed. My sister said that she knew a place to go shopping, so we decided to leave. Somehow, we convinced Chris to leave as well, and we all walked out of the park. Initially, Sterling, Jamie and Gavin followed us, but they got distracted by buying a kite (which they later got stuck in a tree. Naturally.) Anyway, we still didn't want to wait, so my sister, me, Hannah and Chris hopped in a cab (without telling the others - we figured they were already preoccupied) and took off for Ho Hai, which is supposed to be a really pretty area of Beijing (we originally were going somewhere else, but changed our minds in the cab. The driver didn't seem to care.) But when we got there, none of us were in the mood to go walking around and exploring. When Chris had the idea to go to a small American restaurant outside of our school, we all jumped on it. So we got another cab, and took off for the school.

Once back at school, it was a quick 10 minute walk to the American restaurant (with American prices, may I add.) We ordered 3 sandwiches (BLT, Guido, and meatball), an oreo flurry, and a chocolate and an oreo milkshake. The whole thing was 180 kuai ($27, which is still expensive for China) , but for some reason I am still unaware of, Chris paid for the whole thing. Looks like we are going to have to take him out to lunch sometime. My BLT was not the greatest in the world, and the meatball sandwich wasn't terrific, but our oreo flurry was rather scrumptous. And also pretty entertaining. Hannah and I were in tears and out of breathe, we were laughing so hard over a joke. (I spilled some of my flurry on my arm, and Hannah said that if that had been the last bite, she would have licked it off. For some reason, this sparked a huge laughing fit in both of us. I am pretty sure that my sister thought that we were insane.)

As soon as we finished eating, my sister and I went home. (We made a quick stop by the guy who sells dvds on the bridge, but he didn't have anything I wanted to buy, so we continued on our way home.) I told my sister that my friends loved her (which they do. She is seriously the coolest sister ever) and she seemed happy to hear that.

Life returned to normal once we were back home. My dad was cookin dinner (beef, rice, veggie dish, and Lotus stalk with meat in it. Yum) I had a conversation about home, and what we are going to do tomorrow with my dad (in Chinese) and felt rather pleased with myself afterwards. After dinner was spent doing homework and talking to friends. I also found concert tickets that I very much want to get, but I have to convince Mr. Bissell let 5 of us miss curfew for one night. I might leave that conversation for a little bit later. (Although if you are reading this, Mr. Bissell, I am totally up to convincing you whenever you are ready to be awed.)

Now, I am trying to stay awak so I can finish writing about my day. But it was a very good day. I used a lot of Chinese (even if I dd resort to Chinglish sometimes) and I feel like I have rounded a corner with speaking, especially with my host family. Also, today was good in the sense that I bonded with my sister for the first time since I have been here, and that is nice. I feel closer to her now. So it has been a big day. Even if we didn't stick with the plan at all (Plan B...) it was still successful. So now, I have to go to sleep, because I am exhausted. See you lovelies tomorrow. Bye!

A Break for Break

The only way to describe today is "Break for a Break." Everyone just laid really low today, doing their own thing and regaining all the energy that was lost during the school week. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty nice to just have a chill day, to do whatever I wanted without any strings attached. Although I bordered on stir crazy, it was still a good day. Now I can face the rest of the week with a full battery.

This morning I woke up at 9 (I know, I was shocked too. Maybe there is a God after all.) To be fair, I didn't go to bed until 11:30 (十一点半) but still. It was beautiful. (Although I woke up really bloody sore today. I don't know why. Everything from the waist down was one big hurt. Even now, at the end of the day, I still hurt.) I found that I actually really like my bed, as well. It was incredibly hard on the first night, but now I am used to it. And I sleep under a huge comforter, which is so nice to snuggle under, and oh so warm. I love it. It's hard to get out of bed in the morning, especially now that it is getting colder.

There is not a whole lot to say about today. My dad had to go to some one's house to help them build something (I know what you are thinking, please be a little vaguer right? Well, my sister didn't explain it very well. Don't shoot the messenger.) So, he was gone for the whole day, and with my mom in Frankfurt, it was just my sister and me home alone. We basically did our own things all morning, although she did give me about 40 Chinese songs that I asked her for last night (she seemed pleased that I did so...) I listened to those and worked on my college essays, among other things. (I was distracted for a short conversation with my mom back in America, but it is nice to talk to them, so I'm not complaining.)

I got out of my pajamas just before lunch time, and my sister and I walked over to a restaurant next to our apartment to have lunch. We had a chicken dish, wheat soup (which is so so SO good) broccoli, rice, and pumpkin bun things, which are also really good. I thought the restaurant was good, but I don't think my sister was overly impressed. She picked the place though. Anyways, the whole meal was less than 10 American dollars, and she just used the money her dad gave us. I seriously love China.

After lunch was not nearly as productive. I tried to work on my essay's again, but I just crashed, and went down for about a 3 hour nap (I'm not actually sure what time I went to sleep, so I'm just guessing.) When I went to sleep, my sister was watching Peter Pan (the Disney version) and when I woke up, she was watching Pinocchio. She loves Disney. By the time I walked out my door, we had to go to my grandma's house for dinner, because my dad still wasn't home. It's about a 10 minute walk to her house, so I got some time to talk to my sister. (It was actually pretty funny, because as we were walking down the road, all the people selling things saw me and lit up. I'm sure they were thinking that I was just a foreigner they could fleece. Not this foreigner, suckers.)

At my Grandmothers house, she saw us walk in the door, turned on the TV, and loaded up the table with food for us to eat. My dad came in about 20 minutes after us, but the party still wasn't complete. My uncle (my dad's little brother - 弟弟）came, and brought his wife as well. They smiled and were polite, and during dinner, my aunt would just put food onto my plate, even if I didn't want it. (There are the Chinese manners I have been looking for.) When I finally proclaimed that I was full, they shooed me out to the living room to watch more TV. When they discovered that the English channels weren't working, my uncle got up from the table and spent 10 minutes trying to get the movie Guess Who? to work. It did, and then I was left to my own devices, until my sister finished and sat down and started copying my movements. It was pretty funny.

We left pretty soon after everyone finished eating, and my dad drove us all back home. Jerry, our dog, was ecstatic to see us, and was jumping all over the place. I was tired, so I took a shower, washed my hair, and got into bed. (When I got home, by the way, my phone had 1 missed call and 3 texts. I felt so loved. See? I am making friends. Don't laugh at me.) My dad started watching the news, and my sister did something on the computer. We all kinda do our own things at night. Now, I am tired, and want to go to bed earlier than last night. Tomorrow, my sister, me and some of my friends are going to an open air concert in a park, which should be fun. Don't worry, I will write all about it. Love you lots.

We Are the Champions... (Sort of)

I think someone slipped something into my drink yesterday, because although I went to bed at 10, I still woke up at 5:25, before my alarm went off (it was set for 5:30, so I wanted to hurt someone.) I laid in bed for 20 minutes trying to get my energy up to get out of bed, before finally dragging myself to the bathroom, and eventually out the door.

I was at school by 6:30 (because our sports meeting was today, and we had to be at school by 7. On a Sunday and everything.), but it was pretty obvious that no one besides the Chinese kids were there. So I walked around the surrounding area for about 10 minutes, and by the time I got back to school, people were there. I actually had to run back outside the gates to buy breakfast, because I didn't get any this morning. I didn't realize that we were going to be locked inside the school all day (there was a guard at the gates that wouldn't let you out without a pass), so I bought some Bao zi (steamed buns) and a huge thing of green tea as my breakfast. It was actually really good. (Although because I only had 100 Yuan note, my friends paid for it, so now I have to pay them back. That sucks.)

We had to take 54 chairs down from the 6th floor and out to the track so we could sit and watch the events. We got to use the elevator for once though (only to go up though...) so it wasn't so bad. But when we tried to walk out onto the field, two Chinese ladies immediately latched onto us, and started speaking (with gestures) in Chinese (I was at the front of the line, so they started talking to me). I couldn't understand what the bloody hell the were saying (of course that would happen to me, because I suck at life) so I called my friend over who actually can speak Chinese, and he sorted everything out. We had to wait until the procession of kids walking around the track finished, and then we could sit down. (There is an opening ceremony for this, and all the kids put on a little show and walk around the field. It was pretty cool.) As it turns out, we had to join that procession of kids, and because I am "short" (I mean, really now) I had to be in the front. We had to march around with the other kids, and then stop in front of the teachers and say "Lao Shi Hao" (hello Teacher.) They seemed very impressed with us, which shows just how low their standards really are of us.

We moved into our small area, and settled in for a long haul. The only event that I did was jump rope, and that wasn't until after lunch. A big group of us started out playing cards, but that got old fast. So we just watched the races, and talked. Eventually, we all started talking to the Koreans that were sitting next to us, getting in big groups and chatting. There was a lot of number exchanging going on, especially with Korean girls and American boys (hmm...) And as soon as it became apparent that we were not allowed out of the school without a pass (that only the teachers had... of course) we started sending people out into the world to bring back supplies whenever someone got a pass. At one point, we sent a friend out to get 7 omelette things for breakfast (all were eaten rather quickly), and people kept coming back with armfuls of bubble teas to hand out. It was great. The guard just started smiling every time he saw one of us. I myself did a bubble tea and cookie run (I bought the cookies to share).

We weren't even allowed out for lunch time. Instead, we just practiced jump rope for 20 minutes, and then we went our separate ways for lunch. I went upstairs to the cafeteria, and sat with the math teacher and Mr. Bissell (I have no idea where everyone else was, or how they got out). It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was a very pleasant little chat before we all went back downstairs to practice some more jump rope. We didn't do as well as we should have in our practice, and our teacher (Li Lao Shi) was a little upset. So he talked to the Chinese gym teachers, and was allowed to join in for the actual competition. It was pretty cool. (He stood behind people who he deemed "dangerous".)

We actually turned out to be the best jump rope team SYA has ever had. Although the team last year got 183 jumps in 2 minutes (damn...) and we only got 177, we still beat 2 Chinese teams, which is a first in SYA history (We still came in 8 out of 11 though). The kids here practically came out of the womb jump roping. After that I was totally done, and so so SO tired, but still, we couldn't leave, because we had to wait to see who was announced as the winner. But before we could hear, there had to be a closing ceremony. So the entire school got back into formation, and stood in rows of our classes to listen to speeches. We had to listen to the sophomore announcements, and then it was our turn (we competed against the juniors because we are a mostly junior group). You could see the tensions in the faces of the teachers as the announcer got closer to 1st place, and we still hadn't been called.

When the announcer said that we won 2nd place, our whole section went nutty. We started cheering and clapping and screaming, basically just being the crazy Americans we are. Mr. Bissell shoved 2 of our runners forward to get the trophy and the certificate, with a huge face splitting smile on his face. When he got the certificate, he said "We are so framing this." (He also said that when he passes another teacher in the hallways, he can walk past with pride.) It was great. SYA has only won this competition once, and that was 4 years ago, so he is really happy that we did well. It was a very nice way to end the day.

However, I was exhausted, and more than happy to end the day. (I think my feet are getting worse, because they seem to be hurting a lot more than usual. Maybe it's just because I am walking around so much though.) Anyway, after the competition, I tried to figure out what I was going to do. Some of my friends were going to get a massage, and some others were going to eat. Everything sounded good. In the end, I just went home, because I felt bad that I got home so late the night before (I told my mom that, and she just laughed and said it wasn't a problem. I think she was happy I was thinking that way though.)

For the rest of the night, I talked with my family, watched TV, and checked my email. Not very entertaining. I have no idea what the bloody hell I am supposed to do tomorrow. I guess I just have to work on my college essays and actually do my homework. I don't want to though. I did get to talk to my parents tonight though, which is nice. And I am still not homesick which is even better. Bye, bye!

Llama, Llama, Duck

Because of what now seems to be an overeager want to participate in jump rope (in hindsight, of course. Before, it just seemed like fun) I was required to get to school an hour before our field trip (to various temples) actually started. This meant I had to be at school by 8 in the morning. I was so excited because 7 (when I my alarm went off, although one of my friends called be before so I was already awake) is the latest I have gotten to wake up in a while, and I got 9 hours of sleep last night. It was beautiful.

Today was a busy day actually. After practicing jump rope for an hour (during which we got progressively worse, which is never good, because our competition is tomorrow. We can't win. To win, you have to do over 200 jumps in 2 minutes. Just imagine how fast you have to do that. And the Chinese kids go even faster. We don't stand a chance.) the rest of SYA turned up, and we all walked 15 minutes to the subway station, where we then headed to the National Museum. The subway is actually pretty fun (to small town me) and surprisingly clean.

Once we got to the museum, we were all given tickets, and directed towards the main exhibit: 5000 years of Chinese history. Someone had gotten the best pieces from museums around the country, and put them all together here in Beijing. It was the place to be, and clearly everyone agreed with that, because it was packed with Chinese people. Seriously, I probably only saw about half of the artifacts, because there were so many people. I did see some terracotta warriors, and a horse (and a lot of really cool pots and things. There was this one artifact that was amazing. It was a jade carving of a house, and was incredibly detailed, with people and chairs and things. I couldn't take pictures because my flash wasn't turning off, but my friends took pictures.)

After the exhibit, we were set loose on the nearby city to find some lunch. We were also warned that there are no good restaurants around. We were given 100 Yuan in groups of 5 to go buy our lunch, but I switched groups halfway through. Some of my group (ie Chris, Sterling and Warren) wanted to go to McDonald's, but Gavin, Rebekah and I put our feet down. I would rather have starved than gone to the McDonald's. Instead, we all went upstairs to the food court, where we probably had the worst food I have had so far. It was noodles, that were really hot (in soup) and some meat that was supposed to be beef, but it was more like processed bologna. It was so gross. (Chris only ate about 4 chopsticks worth of noodles because he was still sick. Poor guy. Although lunch wasn't very good.)

After lunch, we all trooped back to the subway to go to the Llama Temple, which is the biggest Buddhist temple outside of Tibet (I think.) It was pretty damn amazing. I burned incense outside of all the buildings (there were clouds of incense everywhere, and it actually gave me a little bit of a headache. But at least I got the experience. No wonder all the monks had bad acne) The buildings were amazing. Everything was ornate (and red), and fit for an emperor. I took lots of pictures. At the very end, there was a statue of Buddha that was 60 feet high, made out of one piece of wood. (Impressive much?) I also saw some of the monks having their daily prayer session, and it was all so different for me. I highly recommend going to the temple if you come to Beijing.

We finished at the Llama Temple at about 4, and then realized that the Confucian temple stopped selling tickets at 4:30, and we still had to get there. So Chris, Warren and I all asked a Chinese guy where the temple was, and booked it over there. (On the way, we all stopped at a small shop and bought these bracelets that I think are supposed to be prayer beads, but I just thought that they were really pretty. I bought 2, one for each wrist. I almost bought 3, but decided that would just be a waste of money.) The Confucian temple was pretty close, but I had to practically run because I was the shortest one, and Chris and Warren both have longer legs than me.

We bought our tickets, and headed in. (Actually, funny story. We were supposed to bring our student ids, because we could get in for cheaper. I didn't think I had mine, so I just kept paying the regular price. Now, 4 hours later, I just realized that I have been carrying my student ID around all day. Smart much? And everyone was saying I was smart because my parents have smart jobs. They have no idea.) Still, Chris convinced the lady that all three of us were students, so we got in for only 10 Yuan a piece (about $1.50 each. I seriously love Chinese prices for everything.)

The Confucian temple wasn't as impressive as the Llama Temple (probably because it isn't actually a religion) but there was a pretty cool part of it. There are over 100 marble stones, all engraved with characters amounting to 650,000+ characters. These huge tablets (about twice my size) are engraved with sayings and such, and are all lined up in rows. It's incredible. How did I get so lucky to see all of this? (And, even better, I found a regular public toilet at the Confucian temple. That just made my day.) -Don't worry, mom and dad, I will take you to these places. You'll like it. And probably know more about it than I do.

Once we all finished at the Confucian temple (at 4:50) we were done for the day, and let loose on the town. A group of us (me, Chris, Gavin, Rebekah, Jamie, Julia, Erik and Warren) all went to dinner at a place just behind our school. To get to it, we had to go down a couple of sketch alleyways, but this was actually a pretty nice (and expensive) restaurant. We ordered a lot of food (including pumpkin buns, Beijing duck, this pork thing, and more) which amounted to more than we could finish. We were also in the room with one other group, because there are rooms upstairs for large groups of people. Because Gavin and Chris felt bad that we were a bunch of Americans intruding, they bought the other group a bottle of the cheapest wine on the menu (about $24.) This caused the other group of buy us 2 dishes of food, and we all felt a little strange, like maybe buying them wine wasn't the best thing to do. Ah well.

The conversation over dinner (and, as a matter of fact, the whole day) was very funny. I left feeling extremely content with life, and would have died happy had I actually been hit by a bus on the way home, as I am convinced is going to happen one of these days. I didn't eat dinner at my house tonight (obviously) but because I had called my parents in advance, they didn't mind. I told them I would eat dinner at home tomorrow though (in Chinese, of course.) Now, my feet really hurt, and I have no memory left on my camera right now. I also have to wake up freakishly early, so we shall continue the story of my life later. Until then, my friends.

And Vacation Starts...Now!

This morning was atrocious. My phone alarm went off at 5:47 (that time just makes since to me. Don't ask.) It was so loud, I was worried that it might have woken up the rest of the household, but I didn't hear anyone else stirring, besides my sister, who is always up at 6 anyway. I am telling you, people here function differently. It is most teenagers worst nightmare: I am surrounded by morning people. I took a 10 minute power nap before dragging myself out of bed and to school.

I had a test to study for, so I arrived at school early, and closed myself in a classroom, armed with a whiteboard and a pen. I studied for 45 minutes, and felt prepared. Surprisingly, that feeling remained with me once I got the test (although the listening part might have been a bit of a bust.) I didn't feel as confident when I watched her (Ma Lao Shi) grade my test, but otherwise, everything else was okay. I'm not actually sure she was grading my test; it could have been someone else's. But then she handed us new books, and walked out the door for the last time for a week, and Shen Lao Shi walked in for the last Chinese class.

When Chinese class ended right at 10:00, I walked back down six flights of stairs with most of the school to get flu shots. I realized just at the last second that I was in fact allergic to penicillin (and therefore should know what is in the shot I was about to get) but was quickly assured that it was safe to get. They stuck me with a needle, and then told me that I couldn't shower tonight because my arm might get infected from the water (isn't that a reassuring thought?) The shot actually wasn't that bad, my arm is only a little sore right now. At least now I won't get sick, unlike the rest of the 53 kids at SYA that seem to have down with every illness known to man.

Calculus was right after break today, and it still went by fine, even though my teacher moves really fast, and I definitely get lost sometimes. Also, I seem to have misplaced my calculator, but I know it's around somewhere. I asked my math teacher about it, and all he said was that someone mentioned they had found a calculator. Then he shooed me out of his office. Really helpful, right? After that interesting encounter, I went to history, where we just talked about our trip to the Llama Temple tomorrow, which was lucky for me because I didn't do the homework last night.

I practically ran to the cafeteria for lunch, I was so hungry. I was again eating with Hannah, and we gossiped and chatted while chewing and digesting. After lunch some of us tried to start up a jump rope thing again, but it had disastrous results. For some reason, things were just not going well today. And with our competition on Sunday, that was not the ego booster we all wanted. (Consequently, we all have to show up to school early tomorrow before we leave for the Temple to practice. yay.)

After lunch was English (which was surprisingly uneventful today. I didn't laugh all that much, and even made some good points on the essays' that we were critiquing. I was rather proud of myself) and then free period, which is always interesting. Because today is Friday, I have free period last, which means that I am essentially done with school at 2:20. Hells yes. However, I normally don't take advantage of my extra hour. Rather, I wait for people to finish class, and then go out and be social, like the little social butterfly I really am. Today was actually a little tough. I was going to go to the park with some friends, but they decided they wanted to go to the gym first (weirdos... I probably should have joined a gym, but I didn't. oops.) So instead, I waited with Chris and Josie until class finished, and did my Calculus homework. Chris (who has been sick for 3 days and hasn't eaten in 1) was trying to get someone to walk downstairs and go buy him a BLT, but wasn't having much success.

When class finished, I again met Hannah (I know, this is more than I see her most days, and I love it.) and we tried to decide where to go. Because Jamie and Julia were at the gym, we decided to buy some bubble tea, then start biking down towards the music end of XinJieKouWai Street. However, halfway there, we got distracted. And when I say that, I mean we saw clothes. ie, shopping time. We stopped in this small little shop, and tried clothes on. I even bought a shirt for 30 US dollars (it would have been at least 60 in the States. I now realize I shouldn't have bought it, for a variety of reasons, but at the time, I just couldn't resist.) It is purple, and has sequins sewn on it. Whatever. Now I have it, and it is kind of a fun shirt. I think.

About halfway through shopping, I get a call from my fellow Californian, saying to meet at the park at 4:10. Once Hannah and I got there, Jamie, Julia and Erik (I guess he got picked up somehow. Although I think he went to the gym as well.) arrived shortly, and we all high tailed it to fun land, to see if we could get on the bumper cars. But apparently, there is a age/weight limit, and only small kids are allowed to get on the trampolines. (We were actually laughed at when we asked.) That put a damper on our lives, so we just sat and watched the empty bumper car rink. While there, we talked for half an hour at least, until we were ambushed by other crazy Americans, trying to entice us to a bar with free beer and pizza. (Mr. Bissell, if you are reading this, I would just like to point out that we stayed strong, and threw the little cards they gave us away. Ask your contacts, there was no drinking.) We took a quick detour by the jungle gym, where we saw a bunch of old men swinging around like they were at the Olympics. It was amazing. How are they so good?

At about 5, after having enough of being eaten alive by mosquito's, we all jumped on our bikes and rode 3 minutes back to the bubble tea place, which was hopping. I didn't get anything (I decided I had spent enough money for one day.) Strangely enough, we met the grandmother of one of the kids (Warren) who goes to SYA. We talked with her for about 10 minutes, before she invited us over to her house for dinner sometime in the near future. (We later called Warren and let him know that we were going to his grandmothers house for dinner sometime in the near future. He was thoroughly confused.)

I went back home at around 6, just in time for dinner. My dad make leek and meat stuff again (I think it is leeks, I can't remember) which is really yummy, because it is cooked in that batter stuff that is fried (I can't remember what it is called.) We also had a beef dish that I thinking I ate on the first night, and prawns. I don't particularly like prawns, so I just politely didn't eat them, and declined when offered. I think my dad got the hint.

Dinner was nice though. I had a long conversation (in Chinese) with my dad, about all sorts of things. I only had to ask my sister how to say things a few times. I feel like I am getting better, which is always nice to know. I didn't do any homework tonight (or anything else productive) because I have a whole week for that. (My sister though, has to go to school tomorrow and Sunday, because they are considered work days, since we have the whole of next week off as a holiday. That is just the way things work in China, apparently. I don't understand it either.)

Now, I am really tired, and feel the urge to sleep. I am also getting my horrible headache back, which I would like to avoid. Tomorrow I am going to the Llama Temple, which should be a lot of fun. I'll keep posting... Miss you!

My Version of a Marathon

6:00. Bright and early. (It was especially hard to get out of bed this morning because I got another blanket last night to fight the cold, so I was extra toasty.) I've started a pattern I can't stop (ie, early mornings.) I got 8 and a half hours of sleep last night though, which is probably more than I have gotten any night since I have been here. I feel like I should be in freshman year of college, not senior year of high school. And today of course, is the Mother F of all days.

I got to move slower this morning, because I had Tai Chi, starting at 7:15. You know, as a little side note, the first time I heard Tai Chi was in the morning (back in America, remember) I flipped out, because I hate early mornings. Now, 7:15 seems like nothing. I love my life right now. Really. :) But anyways, getting back on topic. I got to school with only about 10 minutes to spare before tai chi, so I walked up 6 flights of stairs, responded to my emails from my fans (on new computers we got yesterday... yay) and then walked back down for class. I may have mentioned this before, but I really like tai chi. It is extremely relaxing, and for some reason, I always come out really happy. I am to Tai Chi like a crack addict is to crack. Except not really.

Even with my long hours of sleep last night, I was still exhausted when I got to Chinese. I had to prop my head up and force myself to say the words, again. In both classes. I always get impatient about halfway through the second class. I know that this isn't good, but it will get better as I start to sleep more. I couldn't even focus on all the gossip and drama going on around me (it figures. I get to my last year of high school, and then figure out how much really happens behind the scenes. I guess I have just been living with my head in the sand for the past 2 years.)

I wasted my break away, and then went to English. We talked about essays by Virginia Woolf and someone else, because I think that our English teacher is getting ready to give us a creative essay. (Those actually really bug me, because if you try to write something truly creative, then they just say, this isn't an essay, fix it up. Gr.) I didn't laugh in English because the girl I always laugh at isn't there, so it was quite productive as well.

I also had a tutorial today, which was nice because I have a test tomorrow. It just consisted of me, 2 other students, and the teacher, Ma lao shi (马老师). Lao shi means teacher, by the way. Anyways, she read characters, and we had to write the pinyin, tones and characters. It was hard, but helpful. By lunch time, I felt like I was going to eat my classmates, so I raced downstairs with some friends, and over to the cafeteria. The food is actually not lovely, but I eat there anyways. We are supposed to talk Chinese with the teachers every thursday, but there aren't enough teachers to go around, so I didn't get a teacher. (Emo tear...)

After lunch was Calculus (I got my test back, by the way...99%!!!) That class is still pretty easy, so far. I'm still waiting for the knock-you-out-of-the-world punch that math always has. Then Chinese history, which was another discussion (surprise, surprise) and school should have been over. But wait, there's more. Today we had Chinese Society and Culture, taught by the head of SYA China, Jeff Bissell. (He has actually been in North Korea for the past couple of days. Apparently he is one of the lucky 300 Americans that got let in this year.) During this class, we talk about current events going on in China, and he answers our questions. It is probably one of the most interesting classes I have.

That class ended at 4:10, but I was still not done. (Remember, school basically started for me at 7:15, with Tai Chi, and I had been up and running since 6.) After school today was Kung Fu. Our teacher is the short Chinese guy who you most definitely do NOT want to piss off, because damn, he can kick high. And hard. We are learning a pattern (I have no idea what you call it, it's just a thing of kicks and punchs and turns.) We learn a new couple of turns every week. I got a bit lost half way through, but so did everyone else (just about) so we just helped each other. I was really distracted and kept laughing, but I had a good time.

It also got progressively colder throughout our lesson. The day had started nice and warm, and got cold and stormy looking. We didn't finish our class until 5:30 (dear god, it had been almost 12 hours since I woke up) and my friends and I had to abandon our bubbly tea plans and go straight home, because curfew is at 6 on school days. I biked part of the way home with Jamie (a fellow Californian. Yay!) before he turned off, and I braved the roads by myself. No near collisions though, so I was safe. (Although, I have figured out why the roads are crazy here. Drivers, bikers and pedestrians seem to think that the white lines and lights are merely suggestions, not law, and the police don't seem to be much better. There is also an interesting blend of the 3 modes of transportation, which brings them all into close proximity and fighting for space. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's just dangerous.) One more thing about cops. I am used to Davis cops, who have nothing better to do than give people bike tickets for being on the wrong side of the road (ahem.) So now, every time I see a cop, I am always worried that they are going to pull me over. Then I remember that I am in a big city, and they have better things to do than give a white girl a bike ticket. Silly Sophie.

Because I have a Chinese test tomorrow, I had an obscene amount of homework, so I started in. About half way though part of Chinese, dinner was called, so I stopped. Tonight was basically a continuation of last night, with some new chicken dishes, which tasted awesome. I also had my required bowl of rice. I love the food here, really. That is reason enough to learn Chinese. Now I think I should go to bed, because it is 9:30, and my bed is calling. It has been a freakin long day. Thursdays suck.

I'm not sure what else to say. I am finally getting my clothes washed, and I can hear the wind howling and some guy yelling into a microphone outside my window (which is 12 stories up, by the way.) You know, some people think I am weird because I write in my blog every day. Buy how can I not? Do much happens to me now that I am conscious for more time, and I have to write it down. It would drive me insane if I couldn't remembe everything. I definitely have OCD (thanks Mom...) Thank you for reading my stream of half awake ramblings. Next time we meet I will be on break!

Day of Sickness

As much as I love being in China, I am really starting to hate the early mornings that seem to be a requirement for living here. This morning, start time was 6 AM. I was so passed out this morning that my alarm didn't even wake me up at first, and when it did, it took me a while to figure out what was making the sound, and how I was supposed to turn it off. I almost went back to sleep, but it only only sheer will that I dragged myself out of bed, got dressed, and walked out the door. It was also raining this morning, and really freakin cold. My parents even woke up specifically this morning to tell me not to bike, because it was so rainy and cold. So I busted out my travel umbrella, put on my beanie and gloves, and walked to the bus stop to catch bus 16. I don't know why it was so cold today, but I didn't appreciate it.

I got to school, and realized that all the studying I did last night for my math test was all on the wrong stuff. We were doing limits, not derivatives. But it was easily remedied, because I already knew limits from last year. But it was still annoying.

I also found that I seem to have lost all of my energy. I am running on empty, as some people say. All through Chinese, I was trying to prop my head up on my hands so that I would stay awake. I felt like a zombie, and my friend kept saying 起床, which means wake up. I struggled through it, learned new characters, and trooped off to my math test, the next hell I was to be subjected to.

As it turns, the test was actually pretty easy (watch, now that I have said that I am going to get an F. Just watch.) After the test, we supposedly had 2 hours for lunch, because we had to be back to go to the Llama Temple. (I was going to go to a Italian sandwich place with my friend Chris, but he was sick today and didn't come to school, so my plans were foiled. It would have been a shitty thing to do to go without him. Actually, he sent me a message later via Facebook saying that if I had gone without him, we were fighting.) Me and a bunch of friends went to the jiao zi place that I went to a couple of days ago, even though I don't exactly trust it. Truth be told, I didn't realize we were going to that place until we were already there. We being Gavin, Robbin, Hannah, Jamie and Julia (of who Gavin and Julia are sick). After a rather large lunch, we all walked back to school in the cold and the drizzle, which wasn't the nicest. It wasn't until we got to school that it was announced that the trip had been cancelled. Why they couldn't have told us earlier, I have no idea, but that threw everyone into a frenzy of trying to figure out how to spend the rest of the day.

For me, it started out by walking five minutes to a bubble tea place inside the university with Julia. I got hot coconut bubble tea, which was yummy, and nice because the drink was hot, but it was freezing outside. Nice change. When we got back to school, Jamie had finished changing money, and was waiting for us at the gates (actually he called me first and it was really funny, because I heard my phone ringing, but I didn't realize it was mine, so I was trying to figure out who wasn't answering their phones. They I realized it was mine, and I felt really stupid.) Anyways, after figuring out a group that wanted to go somewhere and running into bike trouble (Hannah's bike got a flat tire so she couldn't go) we decided to go to Wangfujing, which is a big shopping plaza close to Tian An Men square, because Jamie had to meet his real cousin. The only problem was that is was about a 25 minute bike ride, and I didn't have a bike. So I sat on the back of Marianne (another friend. What can I say, I am popular) 's bike, and got a ride that way. It was pretty fun. But really cold. (Although we passed a group of high school guys, and I waved as we passed, and blew them a kiss. They thought it was hysterical.)

Wangfujing actually wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. That might have been because I didn't need to buy anything, but also I am just not a big mall fan. As we walked around looking for Jamie's cousin, we noticed that Julia didn't look so good (kinda like how some one dying doesn't look so good - sorry Julia.) So she left, and since I was dependent on Marianne, and she wanted to leave, we just left Jamie to his own devices, and made sure Julia got home in one piece. We stopped in a bakery on the way home, and got a full meal for less than 5 dollars. It was awesome. Marianne turned off to go home soon after that, and I hopped on a bus.

It wasn't until I got home that I felt like I had been clubbed with a cricket bat. I am just running on empty, and I have to keep going. My dad however, doesn't seem to have that bug. He made my favorite dinner. It was this really good pita stuff, and lentils with meat in the middle cooked in that crunchy batter stuff. It was amazing.

Now, my homework is done, and my head hurts, so I am going to bed. I might be getting sick, but I can't be sure. At least half of the school is sick, and a lot of people keep missing school because they can't get out of bed. there is definitely something going around, and for some reason, things spread really quickly among us (no, we do not have a lot orgies, think of a different reason.) I hope I don't get sick. I don't have time to get sick. Well, wish me a good night's sleep, because I really bloody need it. See ya, lovelies!

Stay On Your Toes

I'm not sure what happened today, but something was just off. Maybe because I have already felt all off on my days, but I have just been all over the place. I got to school this morning at about the usual time, at 6:30. As per usual, the rest of my classmates are not insane, so I was one of the few actually at school. I immediately made a dash for the computers, as I had to print out my history paper that was due first period (after Chinese of course.) I also wanted to print out my numerous college essays, which I had to give to the college counselor around lunch time. Of course, due to all of these things, it would be just about right that the printer would go on the fritz, which it did. I got through about half of the things I had to print, and then it just stopped working. There was one other girl, Karina, also in the computer lab, who also spazed out. (It was a matter of national safety that we print our history papers. You don't know our teacher.) Just when we were on the verge of calling every person we ever met, Sterling walked in, our knight in shining armor. Printers love him. As soon as he started printing his paper, our papers started printing, and the world started spinning again.

I had TaiChi this morning as well, which is actually a really nice way to start the morning. I am normally so stressed and out of control that it is nice to just stop and relax. A lot of people didn't come because they had to do homework, and I walked back upstairs after class and yelled at them for it.

Chinese was just like exceedingly normal today, even though I was half asleep on my desk. I don't think that my teachers noticed, but I still felt bad. Break went by extremely quickly with me sitting in my classroom, talking to friends and trying to study Calculus, which didn't go so well. History was just a normal discussion (although we are going to the Llama temple tomorrow, which we talked about) and then it was off to Calculus. I feel that I should share some information about that class with you. I didn't finish my homework last night, because I had too much of other stuff to do. However, as soon as we got to class, our teacher said go to the boards, and started giving us problems to write out. I struggled a little bit, but it was fine. Our teacher is such and egotistical ass though, so he just conintued to make fun of everyone that hadn't done their homework.

Lunch was quick, and I ran back up 6 flights of stairs to finish my homework. As far as I recall (what can I say, it was a while ago) I did some math homework with help from my friend Chris (who my friend and I teased because I beat him on most of the standardized tests) before I had to go to a college counselor meeting. It was actually really funny, because both Warren (another guy who is in SYA) had the meeting together, but whereas I had all my stuff done, and knew where I wanted to go, Warren hadn't even started. I turned in my papers, and went back to study calculus, which was funny, because I didn't know what the bloody hell I was doing, and Chris was only semi awake and making fun of me while trying to help me. Warren walked back in about 15 minutes later with a huge book of colleges proclaiming "I have to pick a really hard college that I can't get into to appease Mrs. Allen. Help me." So he started randomly opening pages and picking out colleges by saying "Minnesota looks nice, I think I'll apply there." It was hysterical.

I had study after that, where I actually studied, and then English. I always have a problem when I get to English. I always start laughing. Today, after I said something particularly smart (I can't remember what) my teacher told me I should read the next Shakespeare sonnet we were going to talk about. But I looked at Reilly, and started laughing. I couldn't breathe, and someone else had to read it for me. Apart from that embarassing little fiasco, we got out early in English, and everything was fine.

I had calligraphy today, which was much more mellow and work oriented because the jokesters didn't come. So instead we just doodled our names and pretended like we knew what the teacher was saying. When you have a lot of friends in your class, it is easy not to get bored, so it was still a good class.

After school was extremely mellow. I went across the road to a teahouse with my friend Hannah, who I roomed with on the first night. I don't know what it is (I guess something about sleeping in the same room as someone) but we are really good friends. We basically just gossiped for half an hour, catching up on each other. It was really fun.

I went home at about 5:30. For some reason today felt like the ice had broken with my family. My mom had gone shopping with her best friend today, and she had a lot of new jeans that she bought for really cheap. She gave me a pair to try on, but since my thighs are huge, they didn't fit. We also talked for a while, and played indoor ping pong, and basically bonded. It was nice. And now I sound like a prat, so I am moving on.

Homework tonight was not as bad as usual, so I was able to move slower. It was a nice change in pace. Tomorrow I am supposed to be going with a friend to get an Italian sandwich. Yes, I am giving in, but a hot sandwich sounds so good. Now, I am tired, and I have to wake up early, so I am out. Later gator.

Wanted: Another Weekend

Today was long. Even though it was Monday morning and I was supposedly rested from my weekend (ha, that's funny) I still got to school at quarter to 7, and felt like it was Friday afternoon. I was so incredibly tired and out of it. Judging by the way the other 3 students were acting (there were only 4 of us stupid enough to be so freakin early on a Monday morning) I can safely say that they all felt that same way as me. Actually, funny story. One guy, Sterling, was talking to his parents via his computer. His mom asked what he was doing, and he replied "I got some ass last night." We all started cracking up at that especially when his mom asked "From who?" Someone tried to shove me, the only girl in the room, in front of the camera, but I held my ground. Then, Sterling launched into this story about how his host family fed him donkey last night, and then whole thing made sense (somewhat). You could just tell he had been waiting to say "I got some ass last night" since he first had donkey. To our sleep deprived brains, that one joke was uproariously funny.

While some people turned on Reel Big Fish to wake them up, nothing seemed to work for me, and I walked to my Chinese class in a daze, and promptly starting snoozing on my desk. Due to this unfortunate circumstance, I was more zombie like than usual. My neighbor though (ahem) seemed to have all the energy I didn't have, and was bouncing around to the point that I just couldn't stay asleep. I didn't wake up fully until about 10 o'clock, and even the guy that is normally really funny seemed uncommonly subdued.

My break was taken up by a school meeting, and a talk about music lessons. Apparently, because we are going to the Llama temple this Wednesday, music lessons won't start until next week (I am the only one who signed up for my instrument, so while I get a private lesson, it also costs more, and I am going to be using up all of my set aside money for extracurriculars.) This is also when I hit the next snag. Apparently, since the music teachers will be coming to school every Wednesday, we are expected to bring our instruments to school on Wednesday as well. Which means I need to buy one, or rent one. Now, I don't know if you have ever seen a yangqin, but they are big, and not particularly mobile. I don't really want to leave it at school for nine months, so I seem to be a little stuck. But there are some other people who are playing the guzheng (which is similarly large) who are in the same boat, so I will figure it out. Besides, I still have a week. I'll keep you posted.

After my meeting I had tutorial, with Shen Lao Shi, who is the funniest guy ever. He gave me and the 2 other students also in my tutorial tongue twisters for the whole hour, and laughed at us struggling through it. I will admit, it was pretty funny. Also, I corrected him on one of his characters. That was the high point for me. :) Then I had English. That was great. We had this guy, who is a translator and has lived in Beijing for 7 years, came to talk to us. He basicaly told us how it has taken him almost 8 years to finally start to get the language, so good luck. He told us some funny stories about his inlaws (he married a Chinese lady, apparently the in law problem is way worse when you can't speak the language properly. Who knew?) It was a pretty good speech. Except for one part. He said something really funny, and this girl in my class, Riley, started laughing. Then I (because I too laugh a freakin lot) started laughing. It turned into this thing where I would look at her and keep laughing because she was laughing, and vice versa. It took us about 5 minutes to stop laughing (we were both crying at some point) and then we got a lecture at the end of class about how we have to shape up. I don't think our teacher likes kids in general though, because he doesn't know Chinese (maybe he resents us?) and I am pretty sure he would rather be writing than teaching. But whatever.

During lunch, (which SYA gave us; it was Domino's pizza, and everyone went nuts, even though it was pretty gross) we had the Dean of Admissions from both Brown and UPenn come talk to us (I am definitely not in Davis anymore...) It was kinda interesting, but I am still not applying to either of those schools. The supplements are a bitch.

History and Calculus passed without a glitch, and then school was over. I had some trouble deciding what group of people to go with after school (some peope were going to the park, some were going out to eat) but because I knew I had to get home to finish my massive amounts of homework, I chose to go get jiao zi (aka dumplings.) Also, I knew that if I went to the park, there is no way I would leave before it got dark. That place is dangerous. I mean that in the sense that I would have so much fun I wouldn't want to leave. Not literally dangerous.

So, I went to this kinda sketch jiao zi place with Chris, Ian and Sterling, who are all pretty funny. Our chopsticks were not exactly clean (mine were the only ones I would have eaten off of though) and we got 4 orders of dumplings and 4 drinks. Here is where it got funny though. When we went to pay, the waitress told us that it was 60 yuan for the whole thing (which is 8.78 for 4 people to eat and drink, mind you.) This was pretty bloody expensive, in our minds (only in China, right?), but we figured we couldn't haggle in a restraunt. (It was a hard decision to come to though.) So we shelled out the jacked up price and complained about it on the way out. Actually, more like we laughed about it, because even though we all live here now, we are still foreigners, and I am pretty sure that the prices still get raised like we are foreigners. Also, I got my friend to buy me a rubix (or whatever) cube, but it is bloody impossible. What a waste fo 70 cents.

I actually got home at a reasonable hour today, at about 4:30. By the time dinner came around (at about 6) I had finished one portion of my Chinese homework. Fun, right? I still had to write my History paper (which is rather good, if I do say so myself. It is about human rights, and I had a lot of fun writing it.) and finish the rest of my Chinese homework. I finished at about 10, although I feel bad because again I A) didn't finish my calculus homework and B) barely had any time to talk to my host family. I just don't have enough hours in the day.

Now, at 10:30 at night, I am thinking that maybe having that jiao zi wasn't the best idea. I have been downing obscene amounts of water since then, and my stomach has been a little funky. Ah well. I had a really good dinner though, as always. We had this rice soup thing, which was good, and these really chewy and yummy pancakes that had some vegetable stuff in it. I have no clue what it was, but it was good. And also pig something (knuckles maybe?) that didnt taste so bad, once I could get the meat off the bone with my chopsticks. So overall, a very good day.

Now good night my lovelies. Sleep tight. (I know I will...)

Calm After the Storm

Today was probably the first day I have been able to sleep in without setting alarm at all. It was great. Although I went to sleep late last night, I still woke up at 8 this morning. Which is probably the lastest I have ever woken up here. Compared to my sleeping half the day away in America, 8 o clock seems like nothing. But when every one wakes up at 5 here, 8 is pretty impressive.

Today rather dragged. I didn't go out at all. When I got out of bed, I was still half asleep, and mistakenly turned on my computer, forgetting that Skype was still on. My mom called me immediately, pouncing like something that pounces really fast (maybe a Chinese lady on a really good piece of meat.) :) Anyways, my hair was everywhere, and I am pretty sure I looked like Medussa. Sorry Mom. I keep forgetting I have to brush my hair before I talk to you. I swear, it will get better. But other than the more than terrifying view, it was a rather good conversation.

I worked on my homework for a while, before realizing that I left something I very much needed at school. Aka, the article I am supposed to be writing a 3 page paper on. Oops. I still have a day before I turn it in, so I'm okay. (Don't worry Mom, it's okay. Deep breaths.) I got other homework done instead, so it was still a productive day.

Lunch was extremely edible; well, most of it was anyways. It was basically noodles with pieces of chicken and green beans. Yummy. Although my dad also gave me this soup thing, that I think was supposed to be my drink for lunch. It was egg and green peppers I think. (People here are obsessed with eggs. No joke. Although most of the time it is always eggs and tomatoes in a double act. Since I don't like either one of those things, I have a problem with it.) I struggled through the conversation with my dad, with my sister sometimes translating for us. I am really jealous of her. She is fluent in Chinese (like it is hard for her) and almost conversational in English. I'm always amazed at all these people who speak Chinese. I mean, I know that speaking Chinese for them is like speaking English for me, but still, I am always amazed. And more than a little jealous.

The rest of the day was spent texting with friends and making Chinese flashcards (occasionally punctuated by other things. My family just does their own thing in the afternoons. It mostly consists of my sister playing with her ipod, and my dad taking naps. He snores, by the way. It's realy funny.) I was planning on going to this place kinda close to Tian An Men Square to buy Chinese cds with my friend (Jamie, who is from San Fran. Cool, right? Close to Davis...ug) but he wanted to leave at 3:30, and that wouldn't have left me enough time to be back home for dinner. So I stayed home, and I figure I will just go later.

Dinner was fun. I didn't know when the people were actually coming (it was my sisters cousin and her boyfriend, but people just call everyone here sister, so I get so confused) and so when the doorbell rang, I panicked. And I had a reason to. Because today was such a lazy day, I hadn't exactly totally changed out of my sleeping clothes, nor had I put on make up (and as most of you know, without make up on I look dead, so I was a little concerned.) But I had the perfect plan. I would change into some nicer clothes (aka my strippy shirt and blue skirt, cute combination no?) and then I would call my friend so I could make up on via my camera. But my friend didn't pick up (ahem, you know who you are...damnit) so I had to walk out past everyone with my makeup in hand. That was fun.

The food was again really good. We had this really thick pita thing, with stuff in it, rice (duh, I am in China after all) and some other stuff (stuff much?). I would like to digress for a second about how people eat here. In America, we are all taught table manners, and know all the basics of how to be polite. But apparently people don't get that lesson here. Instead, everyone eats of the community plates (no spoons), there is a lot of yelling and screaming, and people don't eat with their mouths closed. It's great. Such a big change from the "Don't eat with your elbows on the table" or "take smaller bites" that I get at home. You know what I am talking about, Mom.

It was pretty weird having people over for dinner. They basically didn't speak any English, so I blundered my way through Chinese. It took them 10 minutes to explain the word "embassy" to me in a way that I could understand. It was fun though. Then my dad left to go pick my mom up from the airport as she was back from America.

I definitely expected him to just walk back in the door with my mom, but I forgot how friendly everyone is here. Instead, he somehow picked up even more relatives: another "sister" and her husband, who have already been over for dinner. (I seriously have no idea how they ran into each other.) The sister works for GE, and so she was able to translate for me when I couldn't say something. My mom pulled out of her bags two oranges and an apple, and said "Here. For you. From America." Then she laughed and walked away. It was great. (Although the story was way funnier in my head.)

The big drama of the night included, of all things, the Mummy 3, which really was not worth it. My sister (Qian Hui) and one of her "sisters" were trying to explain the Mummy, and because I couldn't understand them, we seriously started to play charades (a game I happen to be horrible at, by the way.) The mimed wrapping their heads with bandages, and then my sister started walking around the living room like a mummy (arms straight out, not bending her legs), and I still didn't get it. Then my dad dragged me over to the computer, turned the computer on, and showed me the movie on his computer. That started the whole business where I tried to get them to put on my USB. However, when I moved the USB to my computer it just said that the file wasn't a movie (really, I have no words). WTF. I was so pissed.

I downloaded Quicktime (even though I already had it) restarted my computer twice (Hello, IT. Have you tried turning if off and on again? hells yes) and it still didn't work. By that time, I had had the whole household in my room, trying to figure out what was going on with my computer, and no one could figure it out.

Eventually everyone left, and I was tired. So I said hasta la vista, and went off to bed, where I got to write back home. Alright, there, happy Robbin? I've posted my blog. Everyone else, love you lots (most of you, anyway...) See you in 8 months!

Who Needs a Gym When You Have the Great Wall?

Because I needed to be at school at 8:15 this morning, my alarm went off at 7:00. I stocked up with my massive amounts of snack foods (that was going to be my lunch for the day), and my dad and I walked out the door at 7:30 AM. (Is it pathetic that I was actually happy that I was going out the door so early?) I took the (public) bus (公共汽车) to school (public transportation is actually not bad) and arrived at school just in time to see an interesting sight.

Implemented shortly after the Tian An Men Square demonstrations, every 10th grade student, of both genders, gets shipped off basically to boot camp for 9 days. This is supposedly to teach kids order and discipline, and to make sure they don't become too soft. (My sister is only in 7th grade, and so she still has a couple years before she is subjected to the yelling and screaming of the so called order and discipline. Seriously, I don't understand the military. I just know I wouldn't do well in it.) Anyways, all of the 10th graders were leaving my school this morning to go off to military school, and the parents were standing at the gates waving the 5 buses full of kids off. It was pretty cute, actually. All the kids were dressed in camo, and they had their little green hats on.

My bus ride was not quite as serious as theirs. All 54 students (including the one who has been sick for a week with something related to Yellow Fever) and teachers leisurely piled into 2 buses, and got cozy. It was only about a 1.5-2 hour bus ride, which really isn't that bad when you are piled in with lots of friends going to the Great Wall. However, something happened at the very beginning that would never ever ever happen at home. Shen lao shi (申老师, or Mr. Shen, as he would be called in the US) got up and asked any one if they would like Dramamine, because it was a long bus ride. Being the moronic person that I am (the fact that I get carsick and was sitting at the back of the bus also didn't help my judgement) I took a Dramamine and gulped it down as fast as possible. (It was actually really funny because there were 5 of us sitting the back , and everyone except one took Dramamine. About an hour in, we all got a little loopy.)

The bus ride actually passed pretty quickly, (with lots of picture taking and food stealing) even though I was fighting the urge to sleep most of the time. I was still fighting that urge when we got to the Great Wall. Now, the moment you have all been waiting for, the Great Wall.

My legs hurt before I even got there. We had to walk up one side of the mountain to even get to the Great Wall, and it was hard. When we got there, things didn't get better. I have always heard that the Wall's floor is not flat, and that there are rocks everywhere, and that it is extremely hard to walk up and down. Half of the steps aren't even there, and the ones that are there are spaced in the most inconvenient ways, just to make it harder. However, none of that makes any sense until you have been there and walked it with your own two feet. Even my retelling of it will not convince you, nor bring the point home. That is just the way the universe works.

We had a 4 hour walk ahead of us, so we started walking. The view was amazing, for the first hour at least. The ground dropped away on either side of the of the Wall, and you could see the Great Wall stretching on and on and on into the distance. It was actually a bit intimidating, and a lot annoying, because there were definitely some times were I was convinced I was going to die. It was about 87 F today, and there was some major sweating going on. (I am fairly sure that I am just going to have to burn my shirt, because it is so insanely gross. I was so insanely gross.)

I would always see a bunch of my classmates around, and every time, they were red faced and panting. That seemed to be the general feeling. We also all realized very quickly why none of the teachers didn't tell us much about the Great Wall hike, and what it entailed. They were probably afraid that we wouldn't want to go if they told us how hard it was. (As it was, I did cheat once. There was one part that basically went straight up and then straight down for 200 steps. I saw a path that went off the Great Wall and around that whole part. The path was also basically flat. The temptation was just too great, so I took off and went around. Sorry.)

About half way through the hike (or rather, 1 hour into it) everyone was sweating so much that all the guys starting stripping. And by stripping, I mean the shirts were coming off, quickly. Most of the time, the guys who I did want to see without shirts kept their shirts on, and vice versa.

My friend and I walked rather fast through the whole thing (although I was so tired that I was basically just focusing on getting to end) but once I got to the end I made a startling discovery. There were already 3 people waiting at the end, and they had been there for about 1 1/2 hours. Meaning that they ran the Great Wall. What took most people 4 hours, they did in maybe 2. It was disgusting.

After that we went to the small restaurant at the bottom of the Great Wall to have "dinner" at 3 in the afternoon. The food was not very good, and some of it looked a little sketch, but I was so hungry that I didn't care. I even found a bathroom with a toilet (although it looked kinda funky, so I didn't really want to sit on it. And really, why is it that there is no toilet paper in any of the public bathrooms?)

That ride back home after the Great Wall was not nearly as fun as the ride there. I was so tired, and so gross with sweat and dirt that all I wanted to do was fall asleep. Which I think I did, but I'm not sure (don't you hate it when that happens?) We got back to school pretty early, at about 7, and no one wanted to go home. So a big group of us (me, Robbin, Hannah, Julia, Jamie, Erick, and later on Chang and Kyle) all went to a local park to just mess around. It is actually the coolest park ever. There is this thing called fun land, and it has a roller coaster thing, bumper cars, and trampolines. We all went to the playground, and messed around on the monkey bars until we were again sweaty and gross. It was also decided that we would go back when everything was open so we could be the kids you know we are. I also received dance lessons. I now know how to do some salsa steps and two step (both Texan and ballroom.) Oh yes, be proud.

For some reason, there was a lot of relationship talk going on tonight. Who liked (and disliked) who, who was dating who, and what relationships might change. Everyone I went to the park with also seemed to decide to talk to me about them (them being their own relationships with other people, which I dutifully listened to, like the good friend I am.) Which is both good and bad. It seemed to me like emotions were running high tonight, and along with the exhaustion that set in from walking the Great Wall, everyone was just falling apart and acting like the hormonal teenagers they are. But that is old news.

Now, I am absolutely, 100% exhausted, and I am fairly sure that this post was crap, and that I will continue to write gobbly gook if I keep writing. So, thank you for bearing with me. Peace out, homies.

Thank God It's Friday

I have an announcement to make. There is a new record for how early I woke up. This morning, 5:30 was the alarm time. Due to the inordinate amount of homework that my teachers have assigned me (I know I have been talking about that a lot, just deal with it), I didn't finish my homework last night even though I must have worked on it for 4 hours. So, I woke up earlier so that I could at least finish my Chinese homework. I am counting on my weekend so that I will be able to catch up on my homework, and maybe not work nearly as hard this week. But I am getting ahead of myself.

After grudgingly turning my phone alarm off at 5:30, I drug myself out of bed and over 3 steps to my desk, and dutifully wrote out 6 more characters (although I had to write each one about 20 times, and in my half asleep state, it took me the 1/2 hour I allotted myself for homework before I had to get ready for school.) I was out the door and at school by 6:30, again. Really, I have to stop doing that. It is bad for my health, and my wrinkles. This time though, I wasn't the first one to school. My friend Robbin had beaten me to the punch, and we studied together until about 7:15, when I retired to a more quiet room for study (ie my Chinese classroom.)

It is great to start every day off with 2 hours of Chinese every morning, although I usually get tired of it about half way through the second class. Today was no different. At least of each class consistes of small fits of giggles, caused by something someone in our class said. Even the teachers get into it, and time passes relatively quickly. (As a small note, we were talking about what each person likes to do on their birthday in class today. One guy, James, said that on his birthday, he likes to eat a lot of his friends. What he meant to say was, he likes to eat a lot with his friends. Nevertheless, I immediately pointed out that we were not friends. Personal safety, you know?)

After Chinese I had a short meeting with my advisor, assuring her that I am not on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and that my life is in fact in some sort of order. My advisor also happens to be the History teacher, which is kind of nice. Her classes are pretty interesting, and I love the discussions we have in them. She seemed satisfied with my answers, told me how proud she was of me (yeah, yeah, yeah) and then I was dismissed to go mingle. (I did manage to get in a lot of points about how I had a ton of homework, aka stop assigning homework I can't do, crazy lady!)

Anyways, right after break I had an hour of Calculus, during which my teacher with a big ego, Mr. Pettus (seriously, he is convinced he is never wrong. That is going to bite him in the ass one day, I know it) taught us bits and pieces of Calculus problems. So far, I understand everything, but that is only a fluke, I'm pretty sure. Everyone knows I am not exactly a math genius. History was right after Chinese, and after discussing the topic of universal human rights (on which I have a paper due Tuesday, by the way) the entire SYA hiked off to get lunch. However, by the time we reached the bottom of the stairs, we made an unhappy discovery. It was raining, and raining with a vengeance. A quick dash to the cafeteria proved not quick enough, as I still arrived slightly soaked.

After lunch, many of us jump ropers convinced SAC (Student Activities Coordinator, more commonly known as Li 老师 - teacher - who also happens to be rather good looking) to let us play jump rope, even though the ground was as slippery as something that is really slippery. We all jumped better than we normally do, probably because we were so much more aware of how easy it would be to trip, fall, and show your brains to the world. Needless to say, we jumped a little higher today, and were much more careful of our feet. The actual competition is on Sunday. SYA has always come in last, so there are not high expectations for us.

After lunch was English, and then study, during which I sat with some friends (Chris and Chang) while Chris played Chinese music off his MacBook (some of which included Jackie Chan and Communist party propaganda. It was great.) Even though I had an off period, I dutifully waited for friends who were in class (and wanted to do things after school) like the good friend that I am. Three of us (me, Robbin and Hannah - I actually don't talk to Hannah nearly enouh after rooming with her on the first night, so it was nice to talk to her again) walked until we found a small restaurant, and sat down to try some fine cuisine.

The restaurant we chose, however, turned out to be not so fine. We all only had a couple of bites before coming to the general consensus that the food was crap, and quickly paid the cheque and ran. Due to a miscommunication, we all believed that Robbin had to be home early to go to a show, so Hannah took off for home, and Robbin and I went to retrieve our bikes from the basement (It is so weird. Just about every building has this sketch basement thing were you can park your bikes, and it is safe. There really are no such things as bike racks here. Unlike Davis...)

The afternoon passed rather slowly after I got home, with my talking to friends via Skype and Facebook until dinner time. My mom is actually in America right now (talk about role reversal) and so it has only been my dad, my sister and me at dinner for the past couple of nights. (My dad, as I have mentioned, is a really good cook, and I never starve.) After dinner I was driven over to a supermarket (by my dad) to buy stuff for my school trip tomorrow (he wouldn't let me pay for the food, either). We are going to the Great Wall (长城) as a school. The part we go to isn't the normal tourist destination, and we are going to be walking for 4 hours. By the time we finish, we will be in another province. How cool is that? We also have to bring our own lunch, because we are going to be eating on the Great Wall. Yeah, life's a bitch, but someone has got to do it. I suppose that person will just have to be me.

Now, I am pouting at the fact that my friend got to go to a group of performances celebrating the end of the Olympics, and I was here. And trying to stay awake so I can keep talking and writing. Absolutely no homework got done tonight (which was probably a mistake) but it is Friday night, and after the week I have had, I feel that I deserve a little bit of a break. I think you will agree. Well, I must get my beauty sleep for the long walk ahead, so bon voyage!

And the Break is When?

My day started bright and early at 6:00. You would think that I, being the bright and happy morning person that I am (not) would be bored of getting up so early. But because I am instead loaded down with enough homework to last me a lifetime, I get the minimum sleep needed to get through the day, grab my daily carb intake, and race out the door. My life is turning into a never ending race against time and the inevitability of an F.

When I got to school this morning at 6:30, there was no one there, which was a first. I was the only person at school so early in the morning, which is not the normal case. (Most days, there seem to be at least 10 people there before me, all trying to finish their homework as well. Really, we are quite a sight to see, practicing Chinese as the sun rises, basically. You should be so proud of our dedication.) This morning's impossible task included trying to finish my Chinese workbook homework, study for my vocab quiz in English, edit my English paper, and read 15 pages for Chinese history. Needless to say, it did not all get done. What didn't help was the fact that I started TaiChi this morning, at 7:15. I was wearing skinny jeans, because I didn't have my track pants yet, so that was really comfortable. When that finished, I had 5 minutes to finish my Chinese homework. I flew up the first 4 flights of stairs in record time (I ran straight up) and then arrived panting and sweating just in time to scrawl some answers and turn in the homework.

Even with that Herculean effort, my day would only get harder. I had a short 30 minute break after Chinese, during which I continued to try to get a grasp on my ever increasing homework load. English flew by, and then came study period. Or what should have been study period. Instead, I had my Chinese tutorial today (of course, it would be the one day that I actually need the study period. That seems to be the way my life works.) Tutorial was hard, and I could feel my negative energy catching up to me as two other students and I struggled to understand what the teacher was saying.

Lunch was no easier. Every Thursday we have to sit with a Chinese teacher during lunch and only talk Chinese. I dutifully sat there and braved the ever deepening waters, before deciding that I needed a little bit of comfort in the form of chocolate coated vanilla ice cream (ie an ice cream bar.) But I had even gotten to the school gates before I was roped into practicing our jump rope thing again (however, it was determined that I am good at jump rope, and I was strategically placed at the end of the line, for some reason.) and proceeded to work up yet another sweat before demanding to be set free to buy an ice cream. (Seriously, all I do here is sweat. No wonder I am so thirsty all the time.)

Calculus followed lunch, and Chinese history after that. I received the rest of my uniform during the passing period between the two classes, and proceeded to walk around the hallways and to my class with 2 pairs of pants, 2 sweatshirts, and 2 textbooks (in my hands) until I could get to my locker. That was really fun. Since I hadn't done my homework for history, I just bluffed my way through it. I don't think she noticed though. (Excellent...)

You would think that after this crazy day I would get a break. But that would be too good to be true. After school was the first class of martial arts, so I dragged myself and my 50 lbs of books down to the track field, where I spent the next hour punching air (that damn pollution...) and thinking about all the homework that I had yet to do. When my short (but springy) teacher declared class over, I walked my bike to the nearest drink shop, bought a milk tea, and pedalled my way home to start homework.

4 hours later, and I am still not done. And I won't get it done tonight. Looks like I am in for another early morning tomorrow. My paper is just about as good as it is going to get (considering that the freakin' prompt doesn't make any sense what so ever.) If only I could write my paper like I write my blogs; then maybe I wouldn't struggle so much.

With my homework toppling around me, I bid you good night. Oh, and a passing note. I have finally gotten a photo bucket account for pictures. I'll put the link in next time, when I have more time. As we say here in China, 晚安! (good night!)

The Honeymoon Is Over

Due to my extreme exhaustion right now (I've been up for 14 hours now), my memory of today seems to be slightly hazy. However, because I have an impulsive need to save things and to remember things, I will do the best that I can.

So, this morning. I woke up, by myself, at 5:50. Yes, as in 5:50 AM. With no alarm clock. I think my family is drugging me, because that is just not normal. I was out of the house and at school by 6:30, a good hour and a half before school started. The sad thing is, I had enough homework and studying to do to last me double that time. I got it done just in time to turn everything in (all our Chinese homework is due right at 8.) Then the madness that is Chinese started, and we were off for 2 hours. (Consequently, I love my Chinese class. Aside from the thrill of having it all in Chinese, our teachers are really cool, and my class is very adamant. There is one guy who keeps trying to say witty things in Chinese, and the teacher just turns around and starts correcting his tones. It's hysterical.)

After Chinese was a school math test. Every Wednesday we all have a math test, and you just have to sit down in front of the test that is for your class, and go nuts. A couple people screwed up (naturally) but otherwise that passed without a glitch. I missed 1 question. Yay.

Since today is Wednesday, it was a short day, and we all got off of school officially at 12:15. Before that, we had a short Chinese history and culture class, where all 54 of us get together with the program director and talk about China and different things it is doing, and it's culture. It's a pretty interesting class.

For lunch, me and a couple friends went to this dumpling place, where all three of us ate for less than 2 US dollars. It was awesome. I love how cheap (便宜) things here are. At 1:30, there was a music concert that we had to listen to . It was 6 teachers, all who play classical Chinese instruments, like the pipa and guzheng. They were showing us what everything sounded like, because we can take music lessons. For the longest time, I was torn between the guzheng and yangqin (look them up, they are the coolest instruments. Way better than my electric guitar back home.) It soon became clear that a lot of people were going to take guzheng, and so I went with yangqin, because it has a really good sound. It would probably be cheaper to take the other instrument, but I don't give a cooked cat tail about that. I have 1500 yuan waiting for me to spend. What the hell. (It was actually really funny, because I was talking to the guy that is going to give me lessons every Wednesday, and in parting I said "See you next Wednesday." He got really excited. It was great.)

After making the tough decision about what instrument to learn, about 10 of us went off to practice our jump roping, which is so much fun. We did that for half an hour, until all of us were sweating and out of breath (Don't laugh. You try doing Chinese jump rope in Beijing air, when it is hot, humid, and smoggy. Then we will see who is laughing.) A water break was called, and we all went our separate ways, although most people just started a massive soccer game that pulled in many Chinese kids. (It was also pointed out to me that sometime during the day I had sat in ink from yesterday's calligraphy lesson, and it looked like someone with ink on their hand had slapped my ass. Isn't that a nice stain to walk around with? On my new pants as well. They are currently in the wash, so cross your fingers please. )

It was around this time that my exhaustion kicked in. I have no idea what caused it. One minute I was doing my homework, and the next I couldn't even be bothered to move. I eventually got up to go home, because I figured at least I would be able to get more work done. I stopped to buy my mom flowers on the way home (why yes, I am a suck up) and my normal 10 minute bike ride took about 20 minutes, I was going to slow. Seriously, I barely even had the energy to pedal. Thank modern technology that my building has an elevator, otherwise I would not be writing this right now.

My Chinese homework took about 2.5 hours, and I'm not even done with it all yet. It got to the point where my characters looked like blobs, and I called it quits (I can just do it tomorrow before class, as per usual.) Dinner was again mostly normal, although I was already half comatose by the time we had to eat. I wouldn't have understood what people were saying to me in English, much less Chinese. It was a fun conversation. Right now I feel almost dead, and must get to sleep ASAP. My homework is just going to have to wait. On the brightside, at the rate that I am going, my freshman year of college is going to be so easy. All my college fears have just melted away in the face of China. I mean, at least they speak English there.

Just now, as I was typing, I heard a sound like thunder. Huge, long rolls of thunder, that are still going on 10 minutes later (now.) It took my sleep deprived brain a while to understand that it wasn't thunder, but infact the noise from the fireworks at the closing ceremoney of the Paralympics. The Birds Nest is about 10 minutes from my house. How awesome is that?

Now, I must leave before I fall asleep on my computer. Needless to say, I think that the blissful, engergy full days of my "honeymoon" in Beijing is now over. Welcome to the real world, where my days are finally catching up to me. Now, it is time to get serious. Sort of.

Can You Repeat That in English Please?

There were a lot of ups and downs today. I don't know what was going on (maybe it is the lack of sleep and increase in caffeine) but I swung from being really giggly to really stressed. And as you all know me, you will realize that those in combination with each other is something that never ends well. With me anyway.

First up today was Chinese, as always. We have 2 hours of Chinese every morning (where they only speak Chinese to us. That gets interesting sometimes.) and then 2 times a week we have a small tutorial, where the teachers try to cram even more Chinese into our brains (as if we weren't already working hard enough.) One of my Chinese teachers doesn't speak any English at all (yay) and the other one does a little. Shen Lao Shi (申老师) is the teacher that speaks some English, and he is hysterical. He has the whole evil genius laugh thing down to pat. Cracks me up everytime. This morning, I was laughing so hard that when he asked me a question, I could only nod, and try to get oxygen back into my lungs (which is normally a good thing...)

After that was Chinese history. We have been learning about Confucianism, and all that good stuff. It seems to me that he just can't make up his mind about anything though. He just said "Be a good person" in a really fancy (and freakin long) way. We had a quiz on Confucianism today, and about half way through (as soon as I got to the short answer anyway) I got a little confused. I couldn't remember a whole lot. So, to make up for my surprising lack of knowledge, I simple started writing as much as I could, figuring that if I kept writing, I was bound to get the right thing eventually. (Mom, if you are reading this, just disregard that last part. It probably made you cringe.)

Calculus passed with surprising ease, and it was off to lunch for me. I swear, I don't think that people in China like us SYAer's. First off, they put our classrooms 6 long flights up stairs. Then, to make things even better, they put our cafeteria on the 3rd floor of another building (again with no elevator.) I can feel the love. Now, I know what you are thinking. "Sophie, grow up. It's just a couple of flights of stairs." Normally, I would agree with you. But when I have to walk up 6 flights of stairs twice a day, and then walk up 3 more just to eat (when I am already hungry and grouchy) it's no little feat. On the bright side though, I am going to have a really nice butt (and legs) when I get home. And I will kick butt at rowing. Just you wait.

Lunch was super fun (well, after lunch anyway. The eating part wasn't all that special.) We have a track meet coming up soon, and one of the events is Chinese jump rope. It's a team effort of 15 people, where you all get in a line and run through a huge jump rope very quickly. It's so much fun. I got dragged into participating after watching for 10 minutes, and had a blast. (I also didn't screw up and got lots of praises, so yay for me.)

Study and English went by relatively easy (although I always seem to have a huge laughing fit during English...) and then it was on to calligraphy class, one of my electives. That is the greatest class I have ever taken. The teacher is this old guy (with less than half his teeth) who has been teaching SYA kids for 11 years, and can't speak any English. So he spoke Chinese at us (with gestures and pictures for our benefit) for 40 minutes. We elected 2 translators from our group, but they too didn't know what the bloody hell was going on. So the class just dissolved into fits and giggles. We had a blast guessing what he was trying to say, and laughing about the whole thing. I don't think I got a coherent sentence in the whole time, I was laughing so hard. Everyone tried their hand at calligraphy, although there were a lot of 不漂亮's (not pretty) going around. We came to a joing decision that this was the best class ever.

The smog was so bad today that even things 100 yards away were hazy. The entire sky was iron grey. The air was oppressive, and you could feel it hurting your lungs. Because of this lovely fact, after school my friend (Robbin) and I rushed to the nearest tea house we could find, and spent the next hour there baring our souls, and playing with the flower he picked for me (lol.) My bike ride home was mui intertaining, because even though it was only about 5:30, it was already really dark, and starting to rain. There were also huge claps of thunder (and lightening) that sounded like it was going to ripe the sky in 2. I raced home as fast as I could.

Dinner was rather tame, and everything was edible (finally.) My homework load is insane. I am fairly sure that my teachers are just testing us to see what our breaking point is. I can't even finish mine tonight. But seeing as I get to school with more than an hour before it starts, I don't have a problem finishing it in the morning. As mentioned before, I have been waking up at insanely early hours. (Although I have a friend who has so much Chinese homework that he goes to bed at 10:00 and wakes up at 3:30. He basically just walks around school slightly dazed. Poor guy.)

Well, that is my life to date. I spend a lot of time desperately trying to translate what the rest of the world says to me, and constantly think in my head, "Can you repeat that please (in english?)" It's really nice here though. Even though my dad smokes, I still love my family, and my friends. It's nice to know there is a world outside of Davis. Until next time.

Put Your Walking Shoes On

Today was an odd car license plate day, in case you were wondering. At least, I think it was. Just about every car excluding taxi's and buses had either a 1, 3, 5, 7, 0r 9 as the last number. (That would make it odd, wouldn't it? duh) I'm pretty sure that my family owns 2 cars, one for each day (either that or my dad just stole the closest even numbered car he could the other day. I don't think that is right though.) The agenda for today was a walking tour of Tian An Men Square, which started rather late due to my sleeping in until 8:00. It was amazing. (Although I did wake myself up by turning over and ramming my forehead into the sharp corner of my wooden bedside table. That was really nice.)

We took a bus to Tian An Men today. I think because there are always so many people, buses, taxis and cars over there, my family just didn't want to deal with the hassle of driving a car. Although I would have been able to deal with the traffic. While riding a bus, there are always an inordinate amount of people on the same bus with you, and it gets hot, stinky and crowded really fast. (Sometimes, I don't even know how the bus can move, there are so many people. The one today did make some pretty strange shudders though.)

The way that we got to Tian An Men square took us past a lot of different sights. And my dad, as it turns out, is even more of a picture taking whore than my mother. Every time we got somewhere where there was even a remote shot at a good picture, out came the camera. Me by myself, me and my sister or mother, everywhere. I have pictures of me in front of Mao's tomb, and me at various point around Tian An Men Square. Lots and lots of pictures that I have no idea how to post on the Internet. Sorry.

Now to the good stuff. Tian An Men Square. It was, as you can imagine, full of tourists, both native and white. But it was still incredible. I have only seen pictures of it before via Internet and the Olympics, and it was like seeing the Birds Nest for the first time. A row of trees faded away, and all of a sudden I could see a red wall a picture of Mao, the start of the Forbidden City (which for some reason we didn't go in. My parents pointed it out and started walking in the opposite direction. I was confused.) But the rest was incredible. I couldn't believe that I was standing in the middle of Tian An Men square. It was like something out of the twilight zone. Who would have thought that I would be standing there? I loved it. But seeing all the white people made me feel weird, because I found myself associating more with my Chinese family than them. I was getting a private tour of Tian An Men square by natives, in Chinese. For me, that is living the good life. I silently laughed at everyone else. (Not to sound like a snob or anything...)

There was quite a bit of walking involved in this little adventure. Tian An Men Square is huge, as you can imagine. And I definitely wasn't wearing the right shoes. Instead of the practical walking shoes that everyone else manages to remember, I instead slipped on my cute brown peasant shoes, which offer no support and are quite thin on the bottom. Naturally I would wear these on the day that we do the most walking. So as we canvased a good portion of Chinese history, I could feel my feet bearing the brunt of my fun.

There is one thing I would like to mention before continuing on with my busy day. That is the subject of toilets (厕所.) Or rather, the lack of proper toilets. As my family and I were walking to Tian An Men, there was another kid, a little girl this time, relieving herself on the side of a very busy sidewalk. Charming, no? Toilets in America are definitely something I miss. The only toilet I trust here in Beijing is the one in my house, and this predicament has caused some very speedy bike rides home after school. But really, the toilets here are pathetic. If you can manage to find a public toilet that doesn't involve squatting (I only wish I were kidding) then good luck finding one that doesn't smell like piss. Maybe there is a reason so many kids decide to let loose on the side of the road.

Now, back to Tian An Men. After walking through a new row of shops made to look old, our thoughts turned to food, as they normally do. It was lunch time, and we were hungry, tired and sore (at least I was, although the fact that our little 4 person family were fanned out along 3 blocks indicates that the rest of the family felt the same way.) Lunch wasn't quite as exotic as dinner a couple of nights ago (Thank something) but there was still one sus thing that I couldn't bring myself to try (and my mom didn't tell me what it was this time). I can't help if I am a picky eater. My family laughed at me, as per usual, but I can't tell if I am offending them or not. But hey, in my defense, I have only been here for a little over a week. Give me time; I promise I will be eating scorpions by the end of the trip.

After lunch, we piled into a taxi. In no time, my dad and I were kicked out to go the park, while my sister and my mom went to my sister's orthodontist appointment. (The poor girl, her braces got tightened today. You have to feel bad for her.) I had naively agreed to go to the park, forgetting about my poor feet. But any pain was worth it. We were in Tian Tan park, which is no ordinary tree and bush walk about. No, this too is another historical monument. (I'm beginning to think everywhere in Beijing is a historical monument. I am definitely not in California anymore.) My dad took me to the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, and 2 other places close by. These Prayer Halls are huge, ancient buildings, built completely out of colorful stone and painted with dragons and symbols. It's truly an amazing sight. Since he only speaks Chinese, I thought what the hell, and tried my hand at communication. It went quite well, I thought, except that I could only understand about 1/2 of what he said, and I'm sure my tones were enough to make him want to jump off the Great Wall. (I kid, I kid.)

30 pictures later, we were walking back to the hospital to pick up the rest of the family from the orthodontist (I really don't understand how anything works here. Why was the orthodontist at the hospital?) My poor feet felt like they were going to fall off, and the whole family looked tired. (It also doesn't help that both my mom and sister are sick with colds, and they were taking me around doing the tourist thing.)

Everyone very quickly dissolved as soon as we jumped off the bus home and took the elevator up 12 flights (we live on the 12th floor, but there is an elevator. If there hadn't been, I'm not entirely sure I would still be here right now.) For some reason I couldn't understand (I'm starting to sound like a broken record now) my sister had to go to school. It had something to do with the Olympics, but I didn't get much past that. I was so tired that my brain was just shot. I was floating among the clouds, so to speak. (Trying to learn a new language and be a tourist at the same time is a tough business.) I tried to stay awake, but as soon as it became obvious that everyone else in the family was asleep, I thought, 'Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" and promptly passed out for a short 3 hour nap.

Now, I am sitting my room, after a lovely dinner, trying to stay awake. I'm still really tired. My mother washed my back pack for me (I think it's dirtiness had been bothering her since I first walked in the door, because she practically stole it a couple days ago to wash it.) I only just got it back. Tomorrow it is back to school for me, which I am not entirely sure is a good thing. Ah well. As they say in Hawaii, Aloha!