Huǒ Lóng Guǒ

PREVIOUS POST I FOUND THAT I WROTE ON THE PLANE...OOPS SORRY IT'S LATE!

AHHHHH! At this exact moment, I'm on the plane to Hong Kong, watching "Catch me if you can" and drinking a Miller Lite! This plane is crazy! When I first walkled in, the cabin literlally had beds in it! I've never seen anything like it before. Imagine hospital beds, but smaller and that look like regular plane seats. In those seats, you could definately sleep the whole 16 hours! Right now, we're probably around 8 or 9 hours into the trip. I have a great seat--in the middle of the plane but by the window and there is no one sitting directly next to me. It's pretty dark in here, except for the lights of computers and personal tvs (that everyone has attached to the seat in front of them). If I look outside now, it is really white, but it's not just because of the clouds, but you can see ice, and frozen lakes or something. If this blog post sounds a little interesting, it's because of the
beer and the 2 glasses of wine I had when I boarded. I took something to help me sleep but I think I slept for 4 hours already (I was soooo tired from my last nights' adventures in NYC!) Too bad the plane doesn't have wireless...I think domestic flights are starting to. Another interesting thing- our flight goes from JFK in NY and flies north towards Canada, then goes West...and it looks like we are in the North Pole.

...SomEtime around March 10th 2010

Hello Friends! I first have to say I have been dissapointed with myself for carrying around a huge backpack (this isn't the reason I'm dissapointed!) and not managing to throw my camera back in it. I have been to two places that I would have loved to take pictures at...but no camera. I am still writing these posts to my computer, because I have yet to get on BLOGSPOT, or facebook for that matter :( The only time I'm online is at work, and even there, the Gchat is faulty. Yesterday, I found out Ewa is going to move to Shanghai with her husband this weekend and I'm so sad! I have hung out with her after work and have slept at her place two nights in a row because she has the internet, and a musquito net or her bed! Hahahah, the musquitoes aren't out yet, so no worries there...Also, enjoy these blog posts, because soon, supposedly, I won't be having any time to mess around at work, while now I do! Did I also mention I love on the 8th floor of my apartment building...AND THERE IS NO ELEVATOR?

1.) Dinner in Daliang
2.) Shopping in Daliang
3.) FINALLY ON BLOGSPOT: March 15, 2010

1.) Yesterday Ewa and I, her friend from work, his GF and his dad went to eat at this nice restaurant in Daliang, a city probably 10 minutes drive from Beijiao. The restaurant was in the middle of hills, a lake, and a river! We went at night, so the view was fantastic due to the Chinese lights, architecture of the buildings, and a really cool lit tower in the mountains (I call them mountains, but they're really just big hills). We had traditional Cantonese food, and Mark's Dad (Ewa's friend) humored us with some Russian words, and complimented us on our Chinese pronounciation (directed more towards Ewa than me). At dinner Mark wrote "Please turn on the heat" for me in Cantonese so that I could show someone in my building and get the remote control to work for my heating system...Day 4 and still no heat. Also, yesterday was a bad chopstick day. Usually when I use chopsticks here people will compliment me, but yesterday I was even surprised with myself because my food kept slipping! They requested a fork and knife for Ewa and I, but there was no way I was going to use it. My chopstick skills will be better than some Chinese people's when I get back...or so I hope. Side note: Chinese people often use spoons to scoop up their food, it's faster. Anyway, we ate steamed fish, dumplings filled w broccolli, rice, some kind of green vegetable that tasted like collard greens (a few of you know I don't like them. Ayman for one since I first had them with him, Azza, and her friends in Nashville), cucumber in a spicy sauce,and a few things that slip my mind...oh yea, and oranges for dessert (like the ones that come in a Bento Box at Takara) It was such a beautiful place, in a beautiful location!

2.) Oh I cannot forget to say I saw a Walmart in Daliang and freaked out! Everyone in the car said there's only crappy Chinese stuff in there...and I said it's the same as in the US: crappy US stuff. Ewa and I wandered around the supermarket, and Mark and his GF came up with a Chinese name for me. It means "I love my country" except I don't remember how to pronounce it in Cantonese. Ewa's name has been "I love China" for a while (given to her by her students). So, our names are pretty similar. Everyone here calls me Aga anyway, and so the name that sounds like that in Chinese is similar to a Polish nickname--Jadzia, pronounced Ya-djaaa. I don't even know how to write that in English actually. I don't want a Chinese name that is pronounced exactly like a Polish name! So we went to a supermarket that had Western things, such as Ponds face moisturizer and Nivea face wash...but they also had bleaching cream. No, not for your hair, but for your face. I asked Ewa if those creams worked, and she said they actually do! We noted that we love the sun and love to be tan, while girls here our age wear umbrella hats (I will take a picture of this as soon as it get sunny enough for people to start wearing them, besides the gardeners tending the shrubs outside) and would do anything to whiten their skin. In Southern China, the whiter, the better. We were also greeted with "It is my pleasure to serve you today" walking by the store workers maybe or maybe not sarcastically...but they bowed to us! This is that "mystical admiration" Dima was talking about of Asian (mostly Chinese) people towards foreigners. Another interesting side note--Ewa and I were trying to find something and we clearly don't speak enough (or any if you want to put it that way) Chinese to ask where it was, so Ewa pulled out her iPod touch and translated a word with an electronic translator into Chinese, we pointed to the word to one of the workers...and she pointed us in the right direction! Technology these days...We took a bus on the way home, and if you spent 10 Yuan (or RMB<--"The People's Currency") or so or more, you get a free bus ticket home, and a free bus ticket to come back! We just saved 4 Yuan! (~6.7 Yuan is a dollar!) hah!

3) Through a PROXY site I finally get on Blogspot and FACEBOOK (lite)...where you cannot write any comments or look at people's profiles...great! What use is that? I moved into Ewa's apt yesterday, and she went to Shanghai to live with her husband :( Keep in mind, I am writing this around 4 days AFTER the paragraph before this one, so if I repeat something, sorry! I have great pictures but I don't know if I will be allowed to even post them on here... We went to Guangzhou this weekend (40 mins by bus, 20 if you're driving!) It was so much fun! We took a boat ride on the Pearl River, ate at the BEST Vietnamese restaurant, and went CLUBBING till 5 30AM (with AIESECers)! The club was so loud I def still have ringing in my ears! On the tvs there were BET videos playing...same ones over and over (Rihanna, 50, and Eminem!) I took a picture, I had to. We danced on stage and drank whiskey, water and some kind of juice mix. The club was beautiful...but I'll let the pictures do the talking when I can put them up. I can't wait till I go to Hong Kong to renew my visa, because I will stay in the hotel an extra day just to upload everything onto facebook and blogspot. For those who have gotten my e-mails, I recommend also reading my blog because this will (hopefully) be more detailed. I would also like to mention that I got lost today walking home from work (my first time walking to or from work)...that I had to get one of the motorbike men to give me a ride (they are all over this city...faster and cheaper...and more dangerous than a cab!)! And I had walked around so much that I was almost at home, except it was getting dark, and one thing I KNOW is to NOT walk around in the dark by myself in these creepy market areas! ALSO MY NEXT POST WILL BE LONGER/MORE DETAILED! I HAVE A LOT TO DESCRIBE, AND SOME NEW UPDATES...BUT RIGHT NOW I JUST WANT TO WATCH A MOVIE! IM RUNNING ON 6 HOURS OF SLEEP FOR 2 DAYS...

Song of the moment- Persuit of Happiness. I kept playing it over and over while I was being stared down in the Subway by EVERY single person, young OR old. CeLeB StAtUs