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!