Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy New Year!

恭喜发财! 
新年快乐!



Happy year of the tiger, everyone!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Beware the H1N1

This video plays in every single airport in China as well as on the buses, subways, and flights.  It's all really an American conspiracy.  



On an unrelated note, being in America is pretty awesome and I have been hacking down on the food list

To eat:
  1. Cupcake (CHECK! 2/5: Sprinkles pumpkin cupcake)
  2. Milkshake (CHECK! 2/6: Palo Alto Creamery peanut butter oreo shake)
  3. Grilled cheese (CHECK! 2/4: Max's Diner ultimate grilled cheese)
  4. Cheese in general (ongoing...)
  5. Bread (ongoing...)
  6. Ben & Jerry's (CHECK! 2/4: Ben & Jerry's flipped out brownie)
This has ultimately left me with an upset stomach, probably because I need my daily dose of MSG served up with a vat of peanut oil and followed up with floaties in water.  I could really go for some 红烧茄子 or 拔丝地瓜just about now...

Friday, February 5, 2010

旧金山欢迎你!

Chinese people do some funny stuff on planes (and trains too, I guess, but it’s always weirder on a plane). Maybe it’s because the majority of the country does not normally travel by plane nor has ever stepped foot on a plane. Jenna was even once asked if airplane food was any good by a student!

“We’re here!”

On every domestic flight I’ve ever taken in China, at least one person jumps out of their seat immediately after landing and still on the tarmac to reach to the overhead bins and gather their stuff. Then a frantic stewardess has to sprint down the aisle to tell them to sit down until we reach the gate. This sometimes works, but they are always so surprised to hear that it might be dangerous to be walking around when the plane has just landed (I’m talking wheels touching the ground here!).

Free food?!

You don’t get snacks on a train, so it doesn’t surprise me that Chinese people get very excited about plane snacks. I’ve gotten some pretty interesting plane snacks, including
dried jujubes and
a giant package of parsley-flavored(?) crackers.

There’s also the inevitable wiping of the face using the complimentary wet napkin, which always grosses me out. On my last domestic flight between Kunming and Beijing, we got the most random assortment of sacks I’ve ever encountered: a dinner roll with jam, a brown cupcake (I don’t know what flavor it was, just brown), and a packaged soy sauce hard boiled egg. Then I looked over and the man and woman next to me ate the jelly with a fork and wondered why it tasted so sweet.

Lights out!

On my flight to San Francisco, the lights went out after dinner, the normal attempt to try to get everyone to sleep to adjust to the time better. I didn’t sleep much and watched two movies, The Road and The Men Who Stare at Goats. There were also some American movies (and one about the Cultural Revolution… shocking) but they were dubbed over.

Anywho, when the lights went out, the guy sitting diagonal of me yelled “EHH???” and then whistled at the stewardesses before he and his friend figured out that they could simply turn on their own lights from their seat. I laughed silently in my seat.

So I guess typing this on the plane will be my last of the China-tastic experiences for a while. I mean, unless I happen to go to a Chinese grocery store with my mom (very likely) or go to NYC Chinatown (also likely).

On a side note, the Rockband app for the iPhone is insanely awesome.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

See ya later, China!

Departing Qingdao at 10:00am, landing in San Francisco at 11:20AM.  It only takes 1 hour and 20 minutes to cross the Pacific!  Actually, I'll be leaving Beijing at 4:00 PM, which means that I am going 5 hours and 40 minutes backwards.  This really is the future!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Alone.

I got back to Qingdao yesterday afternoon and ran around the train station for about 45 minutes trying to find my bus after which it took me about one and a half hours to get back to good ol' Qingdao Hotel Management College.  This was only to come back to a frigid apartment because the heat has been turned off on campus because school is out.  So I've basically holed myself up in my bedroom with the door closed, AC/heater and little space heater blasting.

About 31 hours left of this...

It's weird being back here thinking that there is no one on campus besides myself and a few security guards.  All my students are back at their respective homes, enjoying yummy food, hanging out with their friends, and sleeping in their own beds.  Do you remember the first break after coming to college?  It was such a blast meeting up with everyone from high school and comparing notes about our new lives.  It's also strange thinking that Jenna doesn't live upstairs anymore and that I don't know who I'm going to go eat dinner with every night across the street.  I'll just have to see what the new semester brings me, student and coworker-wise.  


Getting my fill of China

I'm probably going to miss being here during the month I will be in America and Ireland.  No, I definitely am going to miss being here.  Yesterday I pretty much set my bags down and immediately went to the grocery store to get food (post-vacation empty fridge, we've all been there) and walked around the aisles thinking about all the snacks and foods that I'd miss and want to share with others when I was back in the States.

Today I ran more errands, including picking up my new qipao (!!), and was wondering about the whole readjustment thing because I am so accustomed to life here right now.  I'm used to getting shoved in and out of buses and being in a constant crowd of people.  America is going to be a weird place to go back to.

And here is the list that will change and grow throughout the next few days and weeks...


Things I will miss:
- street food
- mantou and rice
 
- random music playing on the street corners
- being able to ignore absolutely everything 
- talking about people and them not being able to understand you 
- rice snacks, milk candy, alpenliebe chocolates, hi-chew candies
- everything being so cheap 
- hot soy milk 

Things I am excited for:
- family and boyfriend! 
- Facebook 
- cheese and a real milkshake
- my full wardrobe
- TV
- real sized dogs
- a haircut 
- uncensored internet

It's weird packing right now and trying to figure out what to bring back/ wear in America and what to leave here.  Needless to say, I haven't packed much yet.  I have a growing pile of stuff on the floor and some of my clothes are drying in the next room.  

Oh, and I think Flickr is blocked again in China but I will upload photos from my January Adventure when I get to the US!
 

My new qipao that I will wear to Matt's 100th night banquet at West Point!